fitntiff! 




THE OCEAN. 



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■ \ BY 



GOSSE, 



AUTHOR OF «AN INTRODUCTION TO Z(JOLOGY," "TflE CANADIAN 
NATURALIST," ETC. 



WITH FIFTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PAKRY &MCMILLAN, 

SUCOESSOKS TO A. HART, i ate CAREY & HART. 

1856. 






GIFT 

MISS LETITIA THOMAS 
AUa- ^> 194® 



Planted by T. K & I' G Collins 




The Whale Fishery. 



PREFACE. 

In the following pages, the Author has endeavoured to describe, 
with some minuteness of detail, a few of the many objects of in- 
terest more or less directly connected with the Sea, and especially 
to lead youthful readers to associate with the phenomena of Nature, 
habitual thoughts of God. A subject so vast as the Ocean might 
be viewed in a variety of aspects, all of them more or less instruc- 
tive : the one which has been chosen is that in which it presents 
itself to the mind of a naturalist, desirous of viewing the Almighty 
Creator in His works. The selections are made chiefly from marine 
botany, zoology, meteorology, the fisheries, the varying aspects of 
island and coast scenery, incidents of navigation, &c., arranged (if 
such a word be not inapplicable) in the order of geographical 
distribution ; as they might be supposed to present themselves to 
the notice of an observant voyager. 

It may be thought that the Author has touched too frequently, or 
dwelt with too great prolixity, on objects minute in themselves, and 

A 2 (5) 



6 PREFACE. 

by the generality of persona considered insignificant and unworthy 
of regard. If apology for this be necessary, he presents it in the 
words of Samuel Purchas: — " Nicostratus in ^Elian, finding a 
curious piece of wood, and being wondered at by one, and asked 
what pleasure he could take to stand, as he did, still gazing on the 
picture, answered, ' Hadst thou mine eyes, my friend, thou wouldst 
not wonder, but rather be ravished, as I am, at the inimitable art 
of this rare and admirable piece.' I am sure no picture can ex- 
press so much wonder and excellency as the smallest insect, but we 
want Nicostratus his eyes to behold them. 

*' And the praise of God's wisdom and power lies asleep and dead 
in every creature, until man actuate and enliven it. I cannot, 
therefore, altogether conceive it unworthy of the greatest mortals 
to contemplate the miracles of Nature; and that as they are moi'e 
visible in the smallest and most contemptible creatures (for there 
most lively do they express the infinite power and wisdom of the 
great Creator), and erect and draw the minds of the most intelligent 
to the first and pi'ime Cause of all things ; teaching them as the 
power, so the presence, of the Deity in the smallest insects." 

London, 1845. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

Beauty and Grandeur of the Sea — Commercial Importance — 
Early Notices of Navigation — Proportion of Sea to Land — Changes 
in its Outline — Depths of the Ocean — Saltness — Loss by Evapora- 
tion — Supplied by Rivers — Motions of the Sea — Tides — Currents 
— The Gulf-Stream — Origin of the Phenomenon — Familiar Illus- 
tration — Local Currents — Winds — Trade-winds — Monsoons — Land 
and Sea-Breezes — Waves — Power of God — Man's Insensibility — 
Reflections . . . . . . . .13 

L THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. 

Instruction to be gained at Home as well as Abroad — Wisdom in 
Minutiae of Creation — Habitually Submerged Beetle — Marine Water- 
fleas — Sea-weeds — Of various Interest — Manufacture of Kelp — Sea 
and Black Wrack — Knotted Wrack — Sea-lace — Various Provi- 
sions for securing Buoyancy — Sea-weeds used as Food — Dulse — • 
Tangle — Sea-furbelows — Henware — English Dulse — Laver — Carra- 
geen Moss— Sea-thong — Peacock's-tail — Delesseria — Landscape — 
Sea-weeds — Parasitical Sea-weeds — Divine Care for these Produc- 
tions — Corallines — Uses — Sponge — Animal Flowers — Singular in- 
stance of Voracity — Aggregate Polypes — Cows'-paps — Corals — Sea- 
fan — Sea-pen . . . . . . . .35 

IL THE SHORES OP BRITAIN, continued. 

Fisheries — Structure of Fishes — Scales — Fins— Air-bladder— Mo- 
tion — Spines — Fruitfulness of Fishes — Migrations — The Herring 

(7) 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Fishery — Singular stranding of a Shoal — Mackerel — Cod — Cod-pools 
— Flat-fishes — Crab — Lobster — Shrimp — Prawn — The Crab and the 
Baillie — Shelled Mollusca — Improperly called Fishes — Interesting 
Variations of Structure — Clifis of Orkney — Sea-bird Catching — Peril- 
ous Enterprises — Gannets . . . . . .77 

III. THE ARCTIC SEAS. 
The Spirit of Geographical Discovery peculiar to Modern Times — 
Commercial Enterprise — Whale Fishing — Majesty of Polar Seas — 
Coast of Spitzbergen — Fine contrasts of Hue — Clearness of Atmosphere 
— Deceptive Distance of Land — Architectural Regularity of Rocks — 
The Three Crowns — Ice — Icebergs — Beauty — Vast Size — Varying 
Forms — Overturning — Sudden Rupture — Process of Formation — Ice 
Islands — Disruption of One — Marine Ice — Formation — Ice Fields — 
Irresistible when in Motion — Perpendicular Ice-needles — Continual 
daylight in Summer — Phenomena of Winter — Aurora — Mock Suns — 
Fog Bow — Looming — Curious Results — Inversion — Ice-Blink — 
Effects of Intense Cold — Frost Crystals — Their exceeding Beauty — 
Snow Stars — Antiseptic Power of Frost — ^Ship tenanted by a Corpse 
— Vegetation — Whale — Interesting Peculiarities in its Conformation 
— Whalebone — Arterial Reservoir of Blood — Blowhole — Windpipe 
— Eye — Blubber — Reflections on the Goodness of God — Whale Fish- 
ery — Accidents — Rorqual — Structure of its Mouth — Enemies of the 
Whales — Arctic Shark — Thresher — Sword-fish — Narwhal — Use of its 
singular Horn — Torpidity of Mackerel — Sea-Blubber — Arctic Clio — 
*' Green-water" — Microscopic Animalcules — Dissecting Crab , . 115 

IV. THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 
Form of the Atlantic — Its Bays and Inland Seas — Extent of Coast 
— Sight of Land — Azores — Picturesque Appearance — Peak of Pico — 
The Atlantis of the Ancients — Islands swallowed up in Modern Times 
— Submarine Volcano — Stormy Petrels — A Shoal of Dolphins — Their 
Gambols — Capture of One — Gulf-weed — Barnacles — Ocean Crabs — 
Toad-fish — "Calm Latitudes" — Heat of the Sun — Gorgeous Sunsets 
— Southern Constellations — The Cross — Tropic Fishes — Coryphene 
— Pursuit of Flying-fish — White Shark — Bad Physiognomy — Fero- 
city — Teeth — Structure of its Egg — Hammer-Shark — Saw-fish — Cap- 
ture of One — Horned Ray — Contact of Ships at Sea — A Breeze — 
The Pilot-fish — Rudder-fish — Sucking-fish — Possible use of its Disk 
— West India Isles — Their varied Beauty — Mangrove Tree — Green 
Hue of shallow Water — Deceptive Effect — Bottom of the Sea — Green 
Turtle — Peculiar Structure of the Heart — Brilliance of the Fishes — 
Yellow-fin— Market-fish— Hog-fish—Cat-fish— Cow-Whale . . 169 



CONTENTS. 



V. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 

Discovery of the Pacific — Voyage of Magellan — Sea-weeds — 
Elephant-seal — Fur-seal — Sea-lions — Sea-bear — Penguins — Sperm 
Whale — Adventurous Character of the Fishery — Destruction of a Ship 
by aWhale — Appearance and Habits — Regularity of its Motions — Its 
Enemies — Breaching — Its Food — Description of the Fishery — Narra- 
tive of a Chase — Strange Sail — Speaking at Sea — Amusing Mistake . 225 

VI. THE PACIFIC OCEAN, continued. 

Islands of the South Sea — Coral Islands — Reef — Lagoon — Forma- 
tion of Coral — Animals — Structure of a Coral Island — Various Species 
of Corals — Rate of Activity — Lines from Montgomery — Crystal Island 
— Caverns — Interesting Legend — Volcanic Island — Natural and 
Moral Beauty — Advanced Civilization — Reef — Islands at Openings 
— Beauty of Lagoon — Moonlight — Night at Sea — Natives swimming 
in the Surf — Sharks — Canoes — Origin of the Population — Various 
modes of Fishing — Pens — Rafts — Poison — Nets — Spear — Fishing by 
Torchlight — Hooks — Angling — Albacore — Sword-fish — Predaceous 
Habits of Fishes — Crabs — Animal-flowers — Cuttle — Oceanic Birds — 
Tropic-bird — Albatross — Booby — Frigate-bird — Immense Assem- 
blage of Birds . . . . . . . .265 

VIL THE INDIAN OCEAN. 

Indian Archipelago- — Proa of the Ladrones — Malay Pirates — 
Number and Beauty of small Islands — Houses over the Sea — Chinese 
Junks — Typhoon — Waterspouts — A Chinese Wreck — Esculent Birds'- 
nests — Their Nature — Modes of obtaining them — Value — Use — Sea- 
weeds — Trepang — Change of the Monsoon — Coming in of the Bore — 
Beauty and singularity of Fishes — Curious Mode of Fishing — ^Violet- 
snail — Portuguese Man-of-war — Sallee-man — Glass-shells — Clamp — 
Pearls — Fishery — Floating- weeds — Pelicans — Luminosity of the Sea 
— Various kinds of Luminous Animals — Conclusion . . . 328 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Longship*s Lighthouse — Frontispiece. PAGE 

Whale Fishery 5 

Marine Entomostraca (Cythere albo-maculata and Cyclops chelifer) 38 

The Sea-girdle {Laminaria digitata) 4T 

The Sea,-farhelows {Laminariabulbosa) 49 

The Peacock's Tail (Padina pavonia) 56 

Bryopsis plumosa 58 

Coralline ( Corallina officinalis) 61 

Sea-fan (Gorgonia Jiabellum), and Sea-pen (Pennatula phosphorea) 75 

Scales of Fishes . 80 

Yarmouth Jetty in the Herring Fishery 89 

Mackerel Boat off Hastings 91 

Turbot Boat off Scarborough . . 94 

Crab-pots 100 

The Shrimper 102 

Fowling in Orkney 108 

Guillemot and Gannet . 110 

The Bass-Rock Ill 

Iceberg seen in Baffin's Bay . 120 

Swell among Ice 121*^ 

Ships beset in Ice 122 

Aurora Borealis .... .... 181 

Mock-Suns 135 

Distortions of Irregular Refraction . . . . . . . 138 

Sperm Whale attacked by Sword-fish . . . . . .159 

Spearing the Narwhal 163 

Food of the Whale: 1, Limacina helicina: 2, 3, 4, Meduace: 5, Clio 
borealis .... ....... 166 

(11) 



12 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Pico . . . . . . . 172 

Submarine Volcano . . . . . > . . . . 176 

The Southern Cross 193 

Coryphene ( Goryphcena) . . 194 

Pursuit of Flying-fish 197 

Hammer- Shark {Zygcena malleus), and Saw-fish (Pristis antiquorum) 206 

Balboa discovers the Pacific 226 

Elephant-Seals, fighting .230 

Penguins ............ 237 

Coral Island 266 

Section of Coral Island 274 

Crystal Islands . . 281 

Volcanic Islands . 286 

Bolabola 290 

White Shark . . . . . . , . . . .300 

Fishing by Torchlight , . .309 

Polynesian Fishing-tackle 311 

Angling in a Double Canoe 313 

Proas of the Ladrones 332 

Chinese Junks 339 

Ship under bare poles 343 

Waterspouts . 345 

Sea-Cucumbers (Holothurice) . . . . . . . . 355 

Glass Shells {Hyalea tridentata and Cleodora pyramidata . . 364 
I^octilttca miliaris, greatly magnified 377 



THE OCEAN. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Who ever gazed upon the broad sea without 
emotion? Whether seen in stern majesty, hoary 
with the tempest, rolling its giant waves upon the 
rocks, and dashing with resistless fury some gallant 
bark on an iron-bound coast ; or sleeping beneath 
the silver moon, its broad bosom broken but by a 
gentle ripple, just enough to reflect a long line of 
light, a path of gold upon a pavement of sapphire ; 
who has looked upon the sea without feeling that it 
has power 

**To stir the soul with thoughts profound?" 

Perhaps there is no earthly object, not even the 
cloud- cleaving mountains of an alpine country, so 
sublime as the sea in its severe and naked simplicity. 
Standing on some promontory whence the eye roams 
far out upon the unbounded ocean, the soul expands, 
and we conceive a nobler idea of the majesty of that 
God, who holdeth "the waters in the hollow of His 
hand." But it is only when on a long voyage, 
climbing day after day to the giddy elevation of the 
B (13) 



14 THE OCEAN. 

mast-head, one still discerns nothing in the wide cir- 
cumference but the same boundless waste of waters, 
that the mind grasps anything approaching an ade- 
quate idea of the grandeur of the Ocean. There is 
a certain indefiniteness and mystery connected with 
it in various aspects that gives it a character widely 
different from that of the land. At times, in pecu- 
liar states of the atmosphere, the boundary of the 
horizon becomes undistinguishable, and the surface, 
perfectly calm, reflects the pure light of heaven in 
every part, and we seem alone in infinite space, with 
nothing around that appears tangible and real save the 
ship beneath our feet. At other times, particularly 
in the clear waters of the tropical seas, we look down- 
ward unmeasured fathoms beneath the vessel's keel, 
but still find no boundary ; the sight is lost in one 
uniform transparent blueness. Mailed and glitter- 
ing creatures of strange forms suddenly appear, play 
a moment in our sight, and with the velocity of 
thought have vanished in the boundless depths. The 
very birds that we see in the wide waste are mys- 
terious ; we wonder whence they come, whither they 
go, how they sleep, homeless, and shelterless as they 
seem to be. The breeze, so fickle in its visitings, 
rises and dies away ; " but thou knowest not whence 
it Cometh and whither it goeth;" the night- wind 
moaning by, soothes the watchful helmsman with 
gentle sounds that remind him of the voices of be- 
loved ones far away ; or the tempest shrieking and 
groaning among the cordage turns him pale with the 
idea of agony and death. But God is there ; lonely 
though the mariner feel, and isolated in his separa- 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

tion from home and friends, GoD is with him, often 
■Qnrecognized and forgotten, but surrounding him 
with mercy, protecting him and guiding him, and 
willing to cheer him by the visitations of His grace, 
and the assurance of His love. " If I take the wings 
of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of 
the sea ; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and 
Thy right hand shall hold me." 

The Ocean is the highway of commerce. God 
seems wisely and graciously to have ordained, that 
man should not be independent, but under perpetual 
obligation to his fellow-man ; and that distant coun- 
tries should ever maintain a mutually-beneficial de- 
pendence on each other. He might with ease have 
made every land to produce every necessary and com- 
fort of life in ample supply for its own population ; 
in which case, considering the fallen nature of man, 
it is probable the only intercourse between foreign 
nations would have been that of mutual aggression 
and bloodshed. But he has ordered otherwise ; and 
the result has been, generally, that happy inter- 
change of benefits which constitutes commerce. It is 
lamentably true, that the evil passions of men have 
often perverted the facilities of communication for 
purposes of destruction; yet the sober verdict of 
mankind has for the most part been, that the sub- 
stantial blessings of friendly commerce are prefer- 
able to the glare of martial glory. But the trans- 
port of goods of considerable bulk and weight, or 
of such as are of a very perishable nature, would be 
so difficult by land, as very materially to increase 
their cost; while land communication between coun- 



16 THE OCEAN. 

tries many thousand miles apart would be attended 
with difficulties so great as to be practically insur- 
mountable. Add to this the natural barriers pre- 
sented by lofty mountain ranges and impassable 
rivers, as well as the dangers arising from ferocious 
animals and from hostile nations, and we shall see 
that with the existing power and skill of man, com- 
merce in such a condition would be almost unknown, 
and man would be little removed from a state of bar- 
barism. The Ocean, however, spreading itself over 
three-fourths of the globe, and penetrating with in- 
numerable sinuosities into the land, so as to bring, 
with the aid of the great rivers, the facilities of navi- 
gation comparatively near to every country, affords 
a means of transport unrivalled for safety, speed, and 
convenience. In very early ages men availed them- 
selves of naval communication. We find repeated 
mention made of ships by Moses ;^ and in the 
dying address of the patriarch Jacob to his sons, he 
speaks of "a haven for ships ;"f while Job, who 
was probably contemporary with Abraham, alludes 
to them as an emblem of swiftness,:]: which would 
seem to imply that navigation had then attained 
considerable perfection, nearly four thousand years 
ago. In profane history the earliest mention of 
navigation is that of the voyage of the ship Argo 
into the Euxine, which took place probably about 
three thousand years ago. "What a contrast be- 
tween her timorous and creeping course, and the 
arrowy speed and precision of a modern Atlantic 

* Numb. xxiv. 24; and Deut. xxviii. 68. •}- Gen. xlix. 13. 

I Job ix. 26. 



INTRODUCTION. It 

steam-ship, rushing to her destination without asking 
aid from wind or tide! 

The proportion which the sea bears to the land 
in extent of surface has been ascertained with to- 
lerable accuracy, by carefully cutting out the one 
from the other, as represented on the gores of a 
large terrestrial globe, and weighing the two por- 
tions of paper separately in a very delicate balance. 
The ratio of the water to the land is found to be 
about 2f to 1: the surface of the former being 
about one hundred and forty-four millions of square 
miles, and that of the latter about fifty-two mil- 
lions. Yast, however, as is the sea, and mighty in its 
rage, it is restrained by the hand of Him that made 
it. Water was once the instrument of vengeance 
upon a guilty world, but he hath made a cove- 
nant with man, that never again shall the waters 
become a flood to destroy the earth. He "shut up 
the sea with doors, when it brake forth as if it had 
issued out of the womb; when He made the cloud 
the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swad- 
dling-band for it; and brake up for it His decreed 
place, and set bars and doors, and said. Hither- 
to shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall 
thy proud waves be stayed !"* Slight changes are, 
it is true, going on in the course of ages, in the 
relative positions of the land and sea, but these are 
minute in their extent and slow in their operation. 
By the sand and mud, which are continually brought 
down by the rivers and deposited in the sea, banks 
and points of land are formed and perpetually in- 

* Job xxxviii, 8-11. 
2 b2 



18 THE OCEAN. 

creased, as is particularly the case at the mouths of 
the Ganges and Mississippi; while from the same 
cause the bottoms of inland seas being gradually 
raised, the water rises in the same proportion and 
encroaches on the land. The port of Kavenna, once 
a rendezvous for the Koman fleets, has been filled 
up by the deposition of the Montone, a small river, 
so that now it is four miles from the sea. On the 
other hand the palace of the Emperor Tiberius at 
Capraea, on the opposite shore of Italy, is now wholly 
covered by the water: nor are our own coasts, and 
especially those of Holland, deficient in examples of 
once fertile fields, which are now rolled over by the 
tide. 

Much ignorance prevails respecting the depth of 
the Ocean: in many places no length of sounding 
line has yet been able to reach the bottom, and, 
therefore, our conclusions must be formed from in- 
ference or indirect evidence. Generally, where a 
coast is flat and low, the water is shallow for a con- 
siderable distance, slowly deepening; on the other 
hand, a high and mountainous coast usually is 
washed by deep water, and a ship may lie almost 
close to the rocks. From these circumstances, as 
well as from the various depths actually observed by 
sounding, it is probable that the average depth of 
the sea is not greater than the height of the land, 
in proportion to its extent. If we were to place 
a thick coating of wax over the bottom of a dish, 
taking care to make a very irregular surface, with 
cavities and prominences of all forms and sizes, we 
should probably have a fair idea of the solid surface 



INTRODUCTION. I9 

of tlie globe. Let us then pour water upon it until 
the surface of the water should equal that part which 
is exposed, and it is clear the average depth of the 
one would be equal to the average height of the 
other. But if we increase the quantity of water 
until the proportion is as three to one, it is evident 
the depth will have increased in the same ratio. We 
may, therefore, with high probability, conclude that, 
as the greatest height of the land is about five miles, 
the greatest depth of the water does not much 
exceed twelve or thirteen ; while the average depth 
may be about two or three. 

Every one is aware of the saltness of the sea. 
It has been assumed that its object is to prevent 
stagnation and putrescence. But this reason does 
not appear to be the correct one, for large masses 
of fresh water, such as inland lakes, do not stag- 
nate. Strictly speaking, however, water cannot 
putrefy ; when a small body of it becomes offensive, 
it is on account of the decomposition of vegetable 
or animal matters contained in it. But organized 
substances will decompose, and consequently become 
offensive in salt water as well as in fresh, as may 
be easily proved by experiment. Perhaps the 
reason for the Ocean's saltness may be the increase 
of its weight without the increase of its bulk; for 
the decrease of specific gravity of so large a portion 
of the globe would materially affect the motions 
of the earth, and perhaps derange the whole con- 
stitution of things. The increase of its specific 
gravity makes it more buoyant, and every one is 
aware with how much less effort a bather swims in 



20 THE OCEAN. " -- 

the sea than in a river. Now, superior buoyancy 
seems an important advantage in a fluid wliicli bears 
on its bosom the commerce of the world. It is 
highly probable, then, that our gracious God had 
the convenience and benefit of man in view when 
he ordained the sea to be salt. The Ocean contains 
three parts in every hundred of saline matter, chiefly 
muriate of soda, or the common salt of the table, 
which is a chemical compound of muriatic acid and 
soda. The proportion is rather large in the vicinity 
of the equator. If we considered only the immense 
amount of evaporation which is daily going on from 
the sea, we might suppose that, like a vessel of the 
fluid exposed to the sun, it would diminish in 
volume and increase in saltness, until at length 
nothing would be left but a dry crust of salt upon 
the bottom; on the other hand, looking alone at 
the many millions of tons of fresh water which 
are every moment poured into its bosom from the 
rivers of the earth, we might apprehend a speedy 
overflow, and a second destruction by a flood. But 
these two are exactly balanced ; the water taken up 
by evaporation is with scrupulous exactness restored 
again, either directly, in rain which falls into the sea, 
or circuitously, in the rain and snow, which falling 
on the land, feed the mountains, streams and rivers, 
and hurry back to their source. This interesting 
circulation had been long ago observed by the wisest 
of men: "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the 
sea is not full; unto the place from whence the 
rivers come, thither they return again." '^ And a 

* Eccles. i. 7. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

very beautiful and instructive instance it is of that 
unerring skill and wisdom with which the whole 
constitution is ordered and kept in order, by Him, 
who, with minute accuracy, " weigheth the mountains 
in scales, and the hills in a balance."* 

The Ocean is never perfectly at rest: even be- 
tween the tropics, in what are called the calm 
latitudes, where the impatient seaman for weeks 
together looks wistfully but vainly for the welcome 
breeze; and where he realizes the scene so gra- 
phically described in "The Eime of the Ancient 
Mariner;" — 

" Day after day, day after day, 

We stuck, nor breath nor motion j 
As idle as a painted ship, 
Upon a painted ocean •" 

even here the smooth and glittering surface is not 
at rest: for long, gentle undulations, which cause 
the taper mast-head to describe lines and angles 
upon the sky, are sufficiently perceptible to tan- 
talize the mariner with the thought that the breeze 
which mocks his desires, is blowing freshly and gal- 
lantly elsewhere. The most remarkable of the mo- 
tions observable in the sea, are the tides, periodical 
risings and fallings in the height of the surface, 
which take place twice every twenty- four hours, or 
nearly. It is now well ascertained that these mo- 
tions are caused by the attraction of the sun and 
moon, but more particularly the latter, upon the 
particles of water, which moving freely among them- 
selves with little force of cohesion, readily yield to 

« Isa. xl. 12. 



22 THE OCEAN. 

the attracting influence, and move towards it. The 
time of high water in the open sea is about two 
hours after the moon passes the meridian, owing 
to the impetus which the waters have been receiving 
not ceasing immediately; just as the hottest part of 
the day is not noon, but about two hours after it ; 
and the hottest month of the year is not June, but 
July. On the coast, however, .high water is delayed 
to a greater or less extent by the obstructions of 
straits, mouths of rivers, harbors, &c. It appears 
strange that the sea should be elevated, not only on 
the side next the moon, but also on the side which 
is diametrically opposite ; so that it is high water at 
the same moment on two opposite points of the 
globe, each of which points follows, so to speak, 
the moon in the daily revolution, and, consequently, 
every part of the surface of the Ocean is raised twice 
in each day. The singular phenomenon is thus 
explained: the attraction of the moon elevates the 
particles of water on the nearest side, by slightly 
separating them from each other, which their im- 
perfect cohesion readily admits; it also affects the 
earth itself; but this being a solid body, the cohe- 
sion of its parts cannot be overcome, and the whole 
mass is therefore moved towards the moon, while the 
particles of water on the farther side remain, owing 
to their freedom, nearly in the some position as be- 
fore. The fact is, that the earth is drawn away from 
the water on the remote side, and then the water is 
drawn away from the earth on the near side. The 
sun is greatly larger than the moon, but his attrac- 
tion, owing to his great distance, does not affect the 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

tides to more than one-fourth, of the moon's extent. 
When the power of these luminaries is exerted in 
the same direction, the result is a higher elevation, 
called the spring-tide: and for the reason already 
explained, the same occurs when they are in oppo- 
site quarters of the heavens. On the other hand, 
when they are in quadrature, that is, when appa- 
rently separated by just one-fourth of the heavens, 
the influence of the sun neutralizes, in the ratio of 
one-fourth, that of the moon; and hence we have 
the lowest tides, called neap-tides, soon after the 
first and third quarters of the moon. 

Local circumstances greatly affect not only the 
time, but also the height of the tides. In some long 
bays, which grow gradually narrower, in the form of 
a funnel, the whole of the increased water which en- 
tered the mouth of the bay, being confined within 
very narrow limits, rises rapidly to a great height. 
Near Chepstow, in the Bristol Channel, for example, 
the tide rises from 45 to 60 feet, and on one oc- 
casion, after a strong westerly gale, it even reached 
to 70 feet. Again, in the Bay of Fundy, in North 
America, the spring-tides sometimes rise to the 
astonishing elevation of 120 feet. At the mouths 
of some large rivers, where the shore is very level to 
a considerable distance inland, the tide rolls in under 
the form of one vast wave, which is called the bore ; 
something of this kind occurs in Sol way Frith on our 
own coast; and it is said that if, when the tide is 
coming in, a man upon a swift horse were placed 
at the water's edge, and bidden to ride for his life, 
the utmost efforts of his steed would not preserve 



24 THE OCEAN. 

him from tlie overwhelming wave. Through the 
Pentland Frith, between Scotland and the Orkney 
Islands, the spring- tide rushes at the rate of nine 
miles an hour. The tide in inland seas is so slight 
as to be scarcely observable, probably owing to the 
smallness of the volume of water which they con- 
tain ; and hence the astonishment which the soldiers 
of Alexander, accustomed to the equable condition 
of the Mediterranean, felt, when at the mouth of 
the Indus, they beheld the sea swell to the height 
of thirty feet. 

That some purpose, important in the constitution 
of our world, is effected by these periodical ebbings 
and flo wings of the mighty sea, is highly probable; 
but our acquaintance with the arcana of nature is 
too slight to point it out. In navigation they are 
useful; the flood-tide permitting ships to sail up 
rivers, even when the wind is adverse, and often 
admitting deep vessels to pass into harbors, over 
banks or bars, impassable at the ordinary depth of 
the water. 

Besides the tides, the sea has other motions of 
great regularity, called currents. The principal of 
these is the notable Gulf-stream, a strong and rapid 
river, as I may say, in the sea, whose banks are 
almost as well defined as if they were formed of 
solid earth, instead of the same fickle fluid as the 
torrent itself It first becomes appreciable on the 
western coast of Florida, gently flowing southward 
until it reaches the Tortugas, when it bends its 
course easterly, and runs along the Florida Reef, 
increasing in force, till it rushes with amazing 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

rapidity through the confined limits of the Strait of 
Florida, and pours a vast volume of tepid water into 
the cold bosom of the Atlantic. Here, unrestrained, 
it of course widens its bounds and slackens its speed, 
though such is its impetus that it may be distinctly 
perceived even as far as the Great Bank of New- 
foundland. Nor is its strength then spent; for 
many curious facts seem to warrant us in con- 
cluding, that even to the coasts of Scotland and 
Ireland, and down the shores of "Western Europe, 
this mighty marine river continues to roll its won- 
derful waters. The temperature of this current is 
much higher than that of the surrounding water, and 
this is so uniformly the case that an entrance into 
it is immediately marked by a sudden rise of the 
thermometer. Another unfailing token of its pre- 
sence is the Gulf- weed (Sargassum vulgar e\ which 
floats in large fields, or more frequently in long 
yellow strings in the direction of the wind, upon 
its surface. The cause of this vast and important 
current seems to be the daily rotation of the earth. 
If we turn a glass of water quickly upon its axis, we 
shall perceive that the glass itself revolves, but that 
the particles of water remain nearly stationary, owing 
to the slightness of their cohesion to the glass. To 
a very minute insect attached to the vessel, it would 
seem that the water was rushing round in an op- 
posite direction while the glass remained stationary. 
Now the earth is whirled round with great rapidity 
from west to east, and the greatest amount of this 
rapidity is of course at the equatorial regions, being 
the part most remote from the axis: but the par- 



26 THE OCEAN. 

tides of water, for the same reason as those in 
the glass, to a certain extent, resist the influence 
of this rotation, and appear to assume a motion 
in the opposite direction, from east to west. With 
respect to all the phenomena to be explained, this 
apparent motion is exactly the same as if it were 
real, and we shall consider it so. Now, examine 
a globe, or a map of the Atlantic, and you will see 
that this westerly "set" of the equatorial waters, 
meeting the coast of South America, is slightly 
turned through the Caribbean Sea, until it strikes 
the coast of Mexico, which, like an impregnable 
rampart, opposes its progress. The stream, impelled 
by the waves behind, must have an outlet, and the 
form of the shore drives it round the northern side 
of the Grulf of Mexico, until it is again bent by the 
peninsula of Florida. But here the long island of 
Cuba meets its southerly course, and, like the hunted 
deer, headed at every turn, the whole of the broad 
tide that entered the Gulf, now pent up within the 
compass of a few leagues, rushes with vast impetus 
through the only outlet that is open, between Florida 
and the Bahamas. It is as if we propelled with 
swiftness against the air a wide funnel, the mouth 
being outwards, the tube of which was long and 
tortuous, and which terminated at length nearly at 
right angles to the mouth: it is easy to imagine 
that a strong current of air would issue from the 
tube, exactly as the waters of the Gulf-stream do 
from their narrow gorge. The waters of the Pa- 
cific have the same westerly flow, but its force is 
broken, without being turned, by the vast assem- 



INTEODUCTION. 2t 

blage of islands which constitute the Eastern Ar- 
chipelago; it may, however, be recognized in the 
Indian Ocean, and when bent southward by the 
African coast, and confined by the island of Mada- 
gascar, it forms a current of considerable force, 
which rounds the Cape of Good Hope, and merges 
into the Atlantic. Besides these, there are other 
more local currents, which are not so easily ex- 
plained, such as that which constantly flows out 
of the Baltic, and that which flows into the Me- 
diterranean. In each of these cases, while the 
main current occupies the middle of the channel, 
there is a subordinate current on each side close 
to the shore, which sets in the opposite direction. 

As in the case of the tides, it is obvious how 
serviceable these motions of the sea often are in 
aiding navigation, particularly as they are most 
strong and regular in latitudes where calms often 
prevail. 

And this leads us to consider the action of the 
winds upon the sea, which, though affecting only the 
surface, are the most powerful agents in producing 
the irregular motions of this element. By them the 
freighted bark, with her hardy crew, is wafted to the 
wished for haven; and by them the crested billows 
are roused up, which dash her upon the sharp-pointed 
rocks, or swallow her up in fathomless depths, leav- 
ing none to record her destiny. The origin of wind 
has usually been attributed to the rarefaction of the 
air by heat: a stratum of air near the earth being 
heated by the sun's rays, or by radiation from the 
surface, becomes lighter, and consequently rises to a 



28 THE OCEAN. 

higher elevation. The empty space thus left is in- 
stantly filled by the surrounding air rushing in, 
pressed by the weight of the atmosphere above: this 
motion communicated to the air, has been supposed 
to constitute a wind blowing in the direction of 
the spot where the heat was generated. It must 
be confessed, however, that the cause thus adduced 
does not seem adequate to produce the effects at- 
tributed to it; though probably some of the cur- 
rents of the air are owing to variations of its tem- 
perature. And as these variations are perpetually 
occurring, dependent on causes which are difficult 
to detect, and as the aerial currents resulting from 
them act and react on each other, variously modi- 
fying their direction, force, and duration, the or- 
dinary winds are irregular and inconstant even to 
a proverb. Some observations, however, recently 
made, have revealed some particulars of a highly- 
interesting character, concerning the winds of the 
temperate zones : one of which is, that they blow 
in a circular direction; that is, the course which 
a storm has taken, if marked out on a map or 
globe, would describe a circle, often of many de- 
grees in diameter. The direction of the gale in 
the circle is not arbitrary, but seems to be inva- 
riably from north to west, south, and east, in the 
northern hemisphere, and in the opposite course 
in the southern. These winds appear to be inti- 
mately connected with magnetism: it is a curious 
fact, that, in the midst of the southern Atlantic, 
where magnetic influence is at the lowest degree 
of intensity, storms are unknown, while the meri- 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

dians of the magnetic poles, that of the American 
cutting the West Indies, and that of the Siberian 
the China Sea, are peculiarly liable to tempests; 
the hurricanes of the former, and the typhoons of 
the latter, being well known * It is pretty certain, 
also, that the changes in the atmosphere produced 
by electricity, which is but another development of 
the same principle as magnetism, have considerable 
influence in the production of the variable winds 
of temperate regions. Our knowledge of these sub- 
jects, however, is yet in its infancy; and though 
in all ages until the present, navigation has been 
entirely dependent on the aid of the winds, no laws 
for their certain prognostication have yet been dis- 
covered, and much obscurity, at least in detail, still 
hangs over their production. But within the tro- 
pical regions there are winds which possess great 
regularity, and may be depended upon with nearly 
the same precision as the great marine currents 
already noticed, which indeed they very closely re- 
semble, not only in their direction and their utility, 
but also in their origin. I refer particularly to the 
Trade- winds, so named from the facility they afford 
to commerce, which blow constantly, within the tro- 
pics, from the north-east on the north side of the 
equator, and from the south-east on the south side, 
the two currents merging near the line into one, which 
takes an easterly direction. The dividing line, how- 
ever, is not exactly at the equator, but a little to the 
north of it. The air in the equatorial regions be- 
comes strongly heated by the rays of the vertical sun, 

* See Reid on Storms. 



30 THE OCEAN. 

and rises; while that from the polar regions moves 
in to supply its place: thus a nothern and southern 
current are produced towards the equinoctial. But 
the earth is revolving from west to east, and the 
equatorial parts are, as we have before seen, those in 
which the velocity is greatest: the free air cannot 
at once acquire this velocity, and is left behind; 
the effect being that an apparent motion in the 
contrary direction is given to it, which, combining 
with the one already possessed by the polar curr 
rents, makes the direction of the northern one 
north-east, and of the southern south-east. The 
point directly beneath the sun, also, is continually 
travelling westward, which increases the effect. The 
heat radiated from the surface of large masses of 
land being superior to that from the sea, while the 
former is subject to much variation from differences 
of elevation, and other circumstances, the trade- 
winds are disturbed, and become very irregular in 
the vicinity of land ; but in open sea they blow with 
much precision. 

A singular deviation from the uniformity of the 
trade-winds occurs in the Indian Ocean, which it 
seems difficult to explain. From 30° south lati- 
tude, to within about 10° of the equator, the 
trade is pretty constant from the south-east; but 
to the north of the latter parallel, the wind blows 
six months from the north-east, namely, from Oc- 
tober to April, while, during the remainder of the 
year, from April to October, it blows with equal 
pertinacity in a direction diametrically opposite. 
These are called respectively the north-east and 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

soutli-west monsoons ; but the former is the regular 
trade — the latter alone is the anomaly, and needs 
explanation. The cause usually assigned is, the 
rarefaction of the air on the continent of Asia 
during the summer months, when the sun is north 
of the equator; the air from the Indian Ocean 
flowing in to supply its place. This would suffi- 
ciently explain why the wind should be southerly, 
but leaves its westerly inclination entirely unac- 
counted for ; and this seems the more inexplicable, 
because one would suppose that the air over the 
burning deserts of Arabia and North Africa would 
be much more heated, and that the direction of the 
supplying current would be south-east. Strange, 
however, as the fact is, it is perfectly uniform in 
its occurrence, and is obviously a very gracious 
ordination of God's beneficent providence, in di- 
minishing the uncertainties of navigation. 

There is yet another phenomenon connected with 
the wind, in the climates of which we speak, that 
requires notice; it is the alternation of the land 
and sea-breezes. Every one who has resided near 
the coast in tropical countries is aware of the eager- 
ness with which the setting in of the sea-breeze is 
looked for. Usually about the hour of ten in the 
forenoon, when the heat of the sun begins to be 
oppressive, a breeze from the sea springs up, in- 
vigorating and refreshing the body by its delight- 
ful coolness, and continues to blow through the 
whole day, gradually dying away as the sun sinks 
to the horizon. Then, about eight in the evening, 
an air blows off the land until near sunrise ; but this 



32 THE OCEAN. 

is somewhat variable and irregular, always fainter 
than the sea-breeze, and dependent on the proximity 
of mountains. The application of what has been 
already said of the causes of wind in general will 
readily be made to these particular cases, the air 
on the surface of the water being cooler during the 
day, and that on the mountains during the night. 
Either is a grateful alleviation of the oppressive 
sultriness of the climate. 

But for the winds, the surface of the sea would 
ever present, notwithstanding its intestine motions, 
an unbroken and glassy smoothness. The playful 
ripple which breaks the moon's ray into a thousand 
sparkling diamonds, and the huge billows that rear 
their curling and cresting summits to the sky, would 
be alike unknown. If the direction of the breeze 
were exactly horizontal, it is difficult to imagine 
how the surface could be ruffled at all; but doubt- 
less the wind exerts an irregular pressure obliquely 
upon the water, a few particles of which are thus 
forced out of their level above the surrounding ones : 
these afford a surface, however slight, on which the 
air can act directly, and the effect now goes on in- 
creasing every moment, until, if the wind be of suf- 
ficient velocity, the mightiest waves are produced.* 

* The perpendicular elevation of even the highest waves is, however, 
much overrated. Viewed from the deck of a vessel, the immense undu- 
lating surface causes them to appear much higher than they are ; while 
the ever-changing inclination of the vessel itself produces a deception 
of the senses, which increases the exaggeration. Experienced practical 
men have, however, made some observations, which show us their height. 
Taking their station in the shrouds, they hare proceeded higher and 
higher, until the summit of the loftiest billow no longer intercepted the 



INTRODUCTION. ^3 

*' For lie commandetli, and raiseth the stormy wind, 
which lifteth up the waves thereof. They [the 
mariners] mount up to the heaven, they go down 
again to the depths : their soul is melted because 
of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like 
a drunken man, and are at their wits' end." The 
Holy Spirit thus alludes to the terrific raging of 
the tempest as eminently calculated to draw man's 
attention to the power and majesty of God, while 
the wondrous deliverances He has so often wrought 
from its fury, are so many claims on man's grateful 
love and praise. 

Let us, then, in contemplating a few of the in- 
numerable objects of interest which the ocean pre- 
sents to us, endeavour in dependence on His own 
gracious aid, to recognise His hand, to discern the 
greatness of His power in creating and upholding 
all things; His unerring skill and wisdom in arrang- 
ing and carrying out His designs; and the careful 
and provident benevolence which He continually 
exercises towards the sentient part of His creation. 
The varied tribes of living beings that throng the 
deep, from the wallowing whale to the luminous 
animalcule, visible but as a sparkling point; the 
multifarious forms of marine vegetation, displaying 

view of the horizon. After watching for a sufficient length of time to 
verify the deductions, they descended, and measured the height of the 
point of sight from the ship's water-line; deducting half of this distance 
for the depression of the hollow below the level of the surface, the remain- 
der gives the elevation of the highest wave. It is thus found that waves 
do not usually exceed six feet in height, except when cross-waves over- 
run each other ; and probably in no case do the very loftiest rise above 
ten feet above the general level. 
3 



34 THE OCEAN. 

exquisite structure and elaborate contrivance; the 
golden sands of the smooth shore, the hoary cliffs 
hollowed into caverns by the restless billows, and 
not least, the restless billows themselves, speak to 
us, in language not to be mistaken, of the glorious 
attributes of the Mighty God, "the Lord of Hosts, 
which is wonderful in counse' and excellent in 
working." 



THE SHOKES OF BRITAIN. 



Befoee we launcli forth to investigate the won- 
ders of the vast Ocean, a little time will not be 
misspent in observing a few of the curious pro- 
ductions which it brings to our very doors. We 
shall greatly err, if we suppose that only in dis- 
tant parts of the world the works of God can be so 
studied as to illustrate His infinite power, and skill, 
and benevolence: we may have to search distant 
regions to find the giants of the deep, the huge 
whale, the Indian cuttle, or the island madrepore; 
but in the most minute crustacean that hops above 
the retiring wave, or the most fragile shell that 
lies upon the shingle, there is the indelible im- 
press of the mind and hand of God. Indeed, it 
may be asserted, that of two created objects of dif- 
ferent magnitude, but possessing similar organs, 
equally adapted to their requirements, that one in 
which these organs are of minute size is the more 
calculated to excite our admiration. Our own 
shores swarm with little creatures of many kinds, 
some so small as to escape the eye of any one but 
a naturalist, which yet are well worthy of being 
examined and studied. Take one example. Walk- 
ing along a sea-beach, where the loose shingle 
rattles under the retiring waves, we may find a 

(35) 



36 THE OCEAN. 

minute beetle, known to entomologists by the name 
of Aepus fulvescens, whose habits may well excite 
our astonishment. Formed like all other beetles, 
to breathe air alone, it deserts the haunts of its fel- 
lows, and betakes itself to the sea, choosing to dwell 
among the pebbles so low down on the beach that 
the water covers it constantly, except for a day or 
two twice every month, when, at the lowest ebb of 
the spring- tide, it is for a few minutes exposed. 
Now, during the weeks of its submersion, how does 
this little creature breathe? Oxygen it must have, 
or it will assuredly die. Many of the beetles that 
shoot hither and thither in our fresh-water ponds 
are clothed with a coat of thick but very fine down, 
in which air is entangled and carried beneath the 
surface. But our little Aepus is not furnished with 
a coating of down. If we examine it, however, 
with a magnifier, we shall discover that its whole 
body and limbs are studded with long, slender 
hairs, and when it plunges under water, each of 
these hairs carries with it a little globule of air 
from the atmosphere, and: these, uniting, form a 
bubble of air surrounding the body of the insect, 
and serving it for respiration. But, subjected to 
the rolling of the tide, it would be ■ liable to be 
perpetually washed away from its dwelling-place, 
were there not an especial provision graciously made, 
for its stability. For this end the feet are fur- 
nished with claws of unusual size, to cling firmly 
to the projections of the stones, and in addition 
to these the last joint but one of the feet has a 
long curved spine meeting the claws, giving it an 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 3t 

extraordinary power in grasping, as well as aiding it 
in obtaining its prey. In other respects, w^ith regard 
to its eyes, its antennae, its jaws, we shall find, if 
we carefully examine it, that, minute as it is, being 
scarcely an eighth of an inch long, its wants have 
been accurately remembered and well supplied. A 
few other British insects, likewise very small, dis- 
play similar instincts, some of them inhabiting holes 
in the sand, very near low- water mark, and there- 
fore entirely submerged a great portion of their 
time. 

On our rocky shores may be found in abundance 
creatures still more minute than these, whose man- 
ners, lively and sportive, are highly interesting. I 
allude to the marine Entomostraca^ or insects with 
shells, and particularly to those of the genus Cythere^ 
scarcely any of which exceed in diameter a large 
pin's head, and most of them are not equal to that 
of a small one. Imagine a pair of bivalve shells of 
this size, irregularly oval, or kidney-shaped, from 
which, slightly separated, protrude four pairs of little 
curved claws, or feet, most delicately fringed, and 
kept in constant motion ; and from one end a pair 
of jointed antennae. Mr. Baird, who has attentively 
studied their manners, gives the following pleasing 
account of them: — "These insects are only to be 
found in sea- water, and may be met with in all the 
little pools amongst the rocks on the sea- shores. 
They live amongst the Fuci and ConfervcB^ &c., which 
are to be found in such pools; and the naturalist 
may especially find them in abundance in those 
beautiful clear little round wells which are so often 

D 



38 THE OCEAN. 

to be met with, hollowed out of the rocks on the 
shores of our country, which are within reach of 
the tide, and the water of which is kept sweet and 



Marine Entomostraca {Cyihere alho-maculata and Cyclops chelifer), 

wholesome by being thus changed twice during 
every twenty-four hours. In such delightful little 
ponds, clear as crystal when left undisturbed by the 
receding tide, these interesting little creatures may 
be found often in great numbers, sportiug about 
amongst the confervas and corallines which so 
elegantly and fancifully fringe their edges and de- 
corate their sides, and which form such a glorious 
subaqueous forest for myriads of living creatures 
to disport themselves in. Sheltered amongst the 
"umbrageous multitude" of stems and branches, 
and nestling in security in their forest glades, they 
are safe from the fury of the advancing tide, though 
lashed up to thunder by the opposing rocks which 
for a moment check its advance; and weak and 
powerless though such pigmies seem to be, they 
are yet found as numerous and active in their 
little wells, after the shores have been desolated 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 39 

by the mighty force of the tide which has been 
driven in, in thunder, by the power of a fierce 
tempest, as when the waves have rolled gently and 
calmly to the shore in their sweetest murmurs. 
These insects have never been seen to swim, in- 
variably walking among the branches or leaves of 
the confervce or fuci^ amongst which they delight 
to dwell ; and when shook out from their hiding- 
places into a bottle or tumbler of water, they may 
be seen to fall in gyrations to the bottom, without 
ever attempting to dart through the watery element, 
as in the case with the Cyprides. Upon reaching 
the bottom they open their shells, and creep along 
the surface of the glass ; but when touched or 
shaken, they immediately again withdraw themselves 
within their shell, and remain motionless."* The 
Cyprides^ here alluded to in comparison, are species 
very closely resembling these, inhabiting abundantly 
every stagnant ditch and pool of fresh water. They 
have their antennae and feet beautifully feathered 
with long fringed bristles, by aid of which they 
swim with much vivacity. In exactly similar situ- 
ations to those above described are found other 
Eiitomostraca^ marine species of the genus Cyclops^ 
almost equally minute, and equally interesting. 
Like their kindred of the same genus found in fresh 
waters, and which are so numerous in the water 
conveyed into London that we swallow them daily, 
these swim with ease, progressing by sudden bounds 
made with great vigour and effect. Mr. Baird no- 
tices of one marine species {C. depresses)^ which he 

* Maff. Zool. and Bot. ii. 141. 



40 THE OCEAN. 

found in Berwick Bay, that its motion is peculiar. 
*'It generally swims on its back, and instead of 
darting forward through the water, as the other- 
species of Cychps do, it springs with a bound from, 
the bottom of the vessel, where it rests when un- 
disturbed, up to the surface of the water. For thia 
purpose it curls its body up into the form of a ball, 
and then, suddenly returning to the straight posi- 
tion, springs with a sudden bound from the bottom 
to the surface, falling gradually down again to the 
same place from w^hich it sprung." It is a remark- 
able character of all these pretty little water-fleas^ 
that they have but a single eye, which is generally 
of a bright crimson hue, sparkling like a little ruby, 
and is set in the front of the head. Any of my 
inland readers, who may have no opportunity for 
sea-side researches, may form a very good idea of 
the form and habits of these agile '' minims of exist- 
ence" by pulling up a handful of the common duck- 
weed from a stagnant pool, and putting a pinch of 
it into a clear glass phial, nearly filled with water : 
numbers of the fresh-water Entomostraca will be 
almost certain to swim out; and the sight will amply 
repay the trouble of procuring them, especially if 
viewed with a microscope, or even a common magni- 
fying glass. 

Probably the objects which would first arrest the 
observation of one who for the first time visited 
a rocky shore, would be, after the broad element 
itself, the marine plants which in such abundance 
and variety clothe the submerged rock. At a glance 
we perceive that they are singular productions ; the 



THE SHOKES OF BRITAIN. 4X 

vast size of some, the strange and uncouth forms 
of others, and the extreme delicacy and vivid hues 
of many, cannot fail to attract attention: and it 
needs not the additional knowledge that many of 
them are pressed into the service of man to assure 
us that they are not less worthy of the consideration 
of rational beings than others of the glorious works 
of God. "Viewing these tribes," observes Dr. Gre- 
ville, "in the most careless way, as a system of sub- 
aqueous vegetation, or even in a merely picturesque 
light; we see the depths of ocean shadowed with 
submarine groves, often of vast extent, intermixed 
with meadows, as it were, of the most lively hues ; 
while the trunks of the larger species, like the great 
trees of the tropics, are loaded with innumerable 
minute kinds, as fine as silk, or transparent as a mem- 
brane."* In stating some particulars of the history 
of but a few of the species found on our own shores, 
I hope to show that the contempt which has been, 
even to a proverb, cast upon the ''vile sea- weed," 
is very much misplaced. It is only a contracted 
mind, governed by debasing selfishness, which mea- 
sures the esteem in which it holds any object by 
the degree to which it ministers to the comfort or 
profit of man; the instructed Christian will feel a 
higher gratification in the thought that the perfec- 
tions of God shine forth more luminously the more 
His handiwork is examined. It was no selfishness 
that prompted the Sons of God, when they saw this 
beautiful and glorious world, fresh in its unsullied 
prime, come from the hands of its Maker, — to sing 

*■ Algae Britannicae. Intr. 
d2 



42 THE OCEAN. 

together, and all the morning stars to shout for joy. 
Yet we may, with adoring gratitude, recognise the 
love which remembers man, and provides, many natu- 
ral objects for his appropriation ; endowing them 
with qualities which his intelligence discovers to be 
useful, and which alleviate the privation and toil of 
his fallen condition. 

A substance called kelp, an impure carbonate of 
soda, important in the manufacture of soap and of 
glass, is the produce of these "worthless" weeds. 
Some years ago, the coasts and islands of Scotland 
yielded 20,000 tons of this valuable substance an- 
nually, which was worth ten pounds sterling per 
ton; but through the increased consumption of la- 
rilla^ an alkali imported from Spain, it has some- 
what diminished. The autumnal storms detach large 
quantities of Algce (a general name applied to all 
the sea- weeds), which are washed ashore. The 
inhabitants of the coast, aware of their value, 
-hurry down to secure the riches thus freely pre- 
sented, and either cast them on their fields as a va- 
luable manure, or burn them into kelp. In Scot- 
land, the kelp-kiln is nothing but a round pit, dug 
in the sand or earth on the beach, and surrounded 
by a few loose stones. In the morning a fire is 
kindled in this pit, generally with the aid of turf 
or peat. The fire is gradually fed with sea-weed, 
in such a state of dryness that it will merely burn. 
In the course of the day, the furnace becomes 
nearly full of melted matter, and iron rakes are 
then drawn rapidly backward and forward through 
the mass to compact it, or bring the whole into an 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 43 

equal state of fusion. It is tlien allowed to cool, 
and having been taken out and broken to pieces, 
it is carried to the storehouse to be shipped for 
market. The general yield of this alkali is one- 
fifth of the weight of the ashes from weeds pro- 
miscuously collected ; but from one species, the 
Sea- wrack, or Black-tang {Fucus vesiculosus), one of 
the most abundant on our coast, the ashes yield 
half their weight of alkali. The Sea- wrack is of a 
dark-green hue, bearing long, flat, and narrow 
fronds, resembling leaves, divided into branches, 
and having a midrib running through the centre; 
the leaf-like branches terminate in large yellow 
oval receptacles, containing many seeds, enveloped 
in a thick mucus. But its chief peculiarity is, that 
the substance of the frond swells at irregular in- 
tervals into oval air-cells, always arranged in pairs, 
one on each side of the midrib. The Dutch use 
this sort, and another called Black- wrack (F. ser- 
ratus), to pack their lobsters ; the latter, how- 
ever, is preferred, on account of its containing less 
mucus, and therefore being less liable to ferment- 
ation. 

Scarcely inferior in its alkaline properties to the 
Sea- wrack is the Knotted- wrack {F. nodosus). The 
fronds look like slender stems, swelling at intervals 
into oval bulbs or air-vessels. Boys amuse them- 
selves occasionally by cutting off these nodules in 
a diagonal direction, to make them into whistles. 
They are too tough to be burst by the pressure of 
the fingers, like those of the Sea- wrack; but if 
stamped on, or put into the fire, they explode 



44 THE OCEAN. 

with a loud report. The seed-vessels are large, 
oval, and yellow, resembling those of the last, placed 
on foot-stalks. 

One of the most common species of our coasts is 
the long, string-like Sea-lace, or, as the Orkney 
people call it. Sea- catgut {Chorda-filum). It 
•usually grows in water some fathoms deep, attached 
to stones at the bottom, yet reaching to the sur- 
face: indeed, it sometimes attains the length of 
forty feet; and this is believed to be the growth 
of a single summer, as it is an annual plant. Its 
structure is highly curious ; at first sight it appears 
a simple cylindrical tube, of an olive colour, about 
as thick as whipcord, but occasionally thicker : on 
examination, however, this hollow stem is found to 
be composed of a flat thin ribbon, abouth one-sixth 
of an inch in width, spirally twisted into a tube, 
the edges exactly meeting each other, and adhering 
with sufficient firmness to allow of the whole stem 
being skinned without separating: in this state it 
is twisted and dried, when it possesses a strength 
and toughness that adapt it for fishing-lines. In 
Norway it is collected as food for the cattle. The 
upper portion usually floats on the surface, or rather 
immediately beneath it, often in such abundance as 
to form large meadows, as it were, which obstruct 
the progress of boats. The fructification of this 
species long defied the investigations of botanists ; 
but it is now ascertained to consist of little pear- 
shaped capsules, imbedded in the surface, and much 
crowded, which the gradual melting away of the 
skin allows to escape. One of the most interesting 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 45 

circumstances connected with the history of the sea- 
plants is, the beautiful and varied -apparatus with 
which many of them are provided for securing 
buoyancy. It seems to be essential to their health 
that they should at least approach the surface, but 
as their substance is specifically heavier than water, 
many of them are greatly lengthened, and fur- 
nished with hollow vessels inflated with air," by 
which their weight is diminished. These differ 
much in form and position in the various tribes; 
in the Sea-wrack {F. vesiculosus), we saw them take 
the form of bladders, arranged in pairs on each side 
of the midrib; in the Knotted-wrack {F. nodosus) 
the stem swells at intervals into hollow bulb-like 
dilatations, while in the long Sea-lace before us, 
the same end is answered by dividing the hollow 
tube into chambers, interrupted at short distances 
by portions of the solid substance of the frond; 
the cavities being filled in some unknown manner 
with air, probably hydrogen generated by the plant 
itself. 

Many of the Algce, are rather extensively used as 
food ; and though to one unused to such diet they 
would in general seem to offer little temptation to 
the appetite, the poorer natives, not only of our own 
but of other shores, eat them with much relish. Let 
us not despise their taste, though differing from our 
own, but rather adore the beneficence of God, who 
has supplied in much abundance an additional source 
of nutriment, and has conferred on the recipients 
of His bounty the taste requisite for its enjoyment. 
From the quantity of saccharine matter which they 



46 THE OCEAN. 

contain, many of these plants are higlily nutritive, 
and cattle often feed on them with greediness. One 
of the species most extensively eaten is that known 
in Scotland by the name of Dalse {Rhodomenia 
palmata). It exhibits the appearance of a very 
thin, membranaceons leaf, irregularly oblong, of a 
purplish colour, or sometimes rosy-red: there is no 
rib, 'but the substance is uniform ; it grows from 
three inches to a foot in length. Before the in- 
troduction of tobacco, this leaf was rolled up and 
chewed in the same manner as the Yirginian leaf is 
at present. It is an important plant to the inhabit- 
ants of Iceland ; they wash it thoroughly in fresh 
water, and dry it in the air, when it becomes covered 
with a white powdery substance, which is sweet and 
palatable; it is then packed in close casks, and pre- 
served for eating. It is used in this state with 
fish and butter, or else, by the higher classes, 
boiled in milk, with the addition of rye-flour. In 
Kamschatka, a fermented liquor is produced from it. 
It is extremely common on all our coasts, and being 
frequently washed on shore, is sought with avidity 
by the cattle: sheep sometimes go so far in the pur- 
suit of it at low water as to be drowned by the 
returning tide. This species, with another which I 
am about to describe, was, until recently, so much 
esteemed by our northern countrymen, that it was 
publicly sold in the cities as an article of regular 
consumption. The cry of " Buy dulse and tangle," 
resounded at no very distant period even through 
the streets of Edinburgh. The latter is the sea-weed, 
usually called in England the Sea-girdle, and in the 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 



4T 




The Sea-Girdle (Laminaria digitata). 



Orkneys Eed-ware {Laminaria digitata). It is very 
common, growing chiefly in deep water, where it 
is protected from the heavy action of the waves. Its 
appearance is singular : from a number of little root- 
lets, which grasp with great tenacity the naked 
rock, springs a straight olive-brown stem, sometimes 
as thick as a man's wrist, and three or four feet 
long: at the summit it dilates into a broad car- 
tilaginous leaf, oblong in form, and palmated, or 



48 THE OCEAN. 

divided into numerous irregular strips ; it is endowed 
with the power of renewing its frond if the latter 
be accidentally destroyed. Mr. Johns observes,* 
that of all the various kinds of sea- weeds thrown 
on shore during a storm, Tangles are the most abun- 
dant: a fact which he explains by the ravages of 
a species of limpet {Patella Icevis) upon their stems 
and rootlets. When cooked, the young stalks are 
said to be not unpleasant, and they are boiled and 
given to cattle. But, as we are informed by Mr. 
Neill, "in Scotland the stems are sometimes put to 
rather an unexpected use, the making of knife- 
handles. A pretty thick stem is selected, and cut 
into pieces about four inches long. Into these, while 
fresh, are stuck blades of knives, such as gardeners 
use for pruning and grafting. As the stem dries, it 
contracts and hardens, closely and firmly embracing 
the hilt of the blade. In the course of some months 
the handles become quite firm, and very hard and 
shrivelled, so that when tipped with metal they are 
hardly to be distinguished from hartshorn." 

Much resembling this species, but immensely 
larger, is the plant which has received the name 
of Sea-furbelows (Z. huTbosd). A single specimen, 
fresh from the sea, is a heavy load for a man's 
shoulder: and one which was measured by Mrs. 
Griffiths, when spread out, covered a circular space 
of twelve feet in diameter. The great weight of the 
frond in this species requires extraordinary support 
against the force of the waves, which else, having 
so strong a purchase, would soon overturn it. To 

* Botanical Rambles, p. 286. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAm, 



40 



guard against this, the ordinary mode of attachment 
to the rock would be insufficient; and, instead of 
the primary root, the base of the stem is swollen out 
into a large hollow bulb, the extended surface of 
which putting forth powerful rootlets from every 




The SeA-Fubbblows {Laminaria bulbosa). 



part enables the plant to defy the violence of the 
winter storm. It is a fact worthy of our notice and 
admiration, that nothing of the kind takes place 
while the plant is young and small; it is only when 
it acquires size and weight, or, in other words, it is 
only when additional support becomes needful, that 
this extraordinary but most effective contrivance is 
resorted to. The English name of the species is 



50 THE OCEAN. 

derived from the edge of tlie stem, wMcIl is greatly- 
dilated and curled into tortuous waves or plaits. 

A long, narrow, ribbon-like leaf, with a thick mid- 
rib, grows on the coast of Scotland, where it is called 
Hen- ware, as well as on the northern shores of Ire- 
land, where it receives the appellation of Murlins. 
It is the Alaria esculenta of botanists. It is of a 
transparent yellow-green, and in the herbarium dries 
without any change, and has a very beautiful ap- 
pearance. The midrib is the part usually selected 
for eating, but Mr. Johns gives us a somewhat unfa- 
vourable notion of its quality. "While walking," 
he observes, "round the coast near the Giants' 
Causeway, I once observed a number of men and 
women busily employed near the water's edge; and 
on inquiring of my guide, found that they were 
providing themselves with food for their next meal. 
Being curious to discover what kind of fare the 
rocks afforded, I stopped one of the men, who was 
going home with his bundle, and asked him to give 
me a bit to taste, prepared in the way in which it 
was generally eaten. He accordingly stripped off all 
the expanded part of a long and narrow leaf, and 
presented me with a stem, or midrib. It was, I 
must confess, as good as I expected; but at best a 
very "sorry substitute for a raw carrot, combining 
with the hardness of the latter the fishy and coppery 
flavour of an oyster. I made a very slight repast, as 
you may suppose; and, after having given the man a 
few pence for his civility, continued my walk. My 
guide, however, seemed to think, that if I did not 
choose to enjoy to the full the advantage which I had 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 51 

purcTiased, there was no reason why he should not. 
He accordingly stayed behind for a minute or two, 
and when he rejoined me, was loaded with a supply 
of the same plant, which he continued to munch 
with much apparent relish as we pursued our walk,"* 
Mr, Drummond, however, it must not be concealed, 
gives a somewhat difterent account, both of the part 
which is eaten and its flavour, and as his observations 
refer to the coast of Antrim, it is not easy to account 
for the conflicing statements, except by supposing 
some variation of taste in different neighbourhoods 
or individuals. The latter gentleman says, "It is 
often gathered for eating, but the part used is the 
leaflets, and not the midrib, as is commonly stated. 
These have a very pleasant taste and flavour, but 
soon cover the roof of the mouth with a tenacious 
greenish crust, which causes a sensation somewhat 
like that of the fat of a heart or kidney. These 
leaflets are quite membranaceous when young, but 
in full-grown plants are fleshy, and at their middle 
a quarter of an inch or more in thickness." f 

The Dulse of the Scottish coast, which was just 
now described, must not be confounded with the 
Dulse of the southern shores of England. This is 
a very different plant {Iridma edulis)^ having little 
resemblance to it, except in being eatable. It con- 
sists of a short stem expanding into an oval leaf, 
without rib or veins, sometimes a foot and a half 
long, and eight or ten inches wide. It is thick and 
fleshy, of a deep blood-red hue, the ■ surface smooth 
and glossy. It is not frequently found, however, in 

*Bot. Ram. 279, t^^g. Zool. and Bot. ii, 148. 



52 THE OCEAN. 

a perfect state, the specimens being generally torn 
and perforated in every possible way. These defects 
have -usually been attributed to the munching of 
crabs, which are said to be fond of it; but Mr. 
Drummond is of opinion that portions spontaneously 
separate from the frond and drop out. Like many 
other Algoe^ it diffuses, when moist, a strong smell 
of violets. The fishermen pinch the fleshy frond 
between heated irons, and eat it; its taste is said to 
resemble that of roasted oysters. Its deep colour 
may yet be found useful in the arts: Mr. Stack- 
house observes,* ''The most surprising quality of 
this plant, and one that will probably render it of 
service in dyeing, I discovered by accident. Having 
placed some of the leaves to macerate in sea-water, 
in order to procure seeds from it, I perceived, on 
the second day, a faint ruby tint, very different from 
the colour of the plant, which is a dull red, fnclining 
to chocolate colour. Being surprised at this, I con- 
tinued the maceration, and the tint grew more vivid, 
till at last it equalled the strongest infusion of cochi- 
neal. This liquor was mucilaginous, and had a re- 
markable property of being of a changeable colour; 
as it appeared a bright ruby when held to the light, 
and a muddy saffron when viewed in a contrary direc- 
tion : this probably arose from a mixture of the frond 
in the liquor. I endeavoured to ascertain its dyeing 
powers by the usual process without success; as the 
quanity of tinging matter was not sufficient; though 
if attempted at large, and properly evaporated, it 

* Nereis Brit. p. 58, as quoted by Turner, Hist. Fucorum, ii. 113 ; 
but I could not find tlie observation in Stackbouse. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 53 

might be made sufficiently strong. However, an 
ingenious chemical friend (the EeV. "W. Gregor) 
assures me he has procured a fine lake from an 
infusion of it by means of alum." 

One or two species of the genus Porphyra are 
brought to our tables, stewed under the name of 
Laver, and are thought a delicacy. Mr. Drummond 
informs us that P. laciniata^ called Sloke in Ireland, 
is gathered during the winter months only, the fronds 
being too tough in the summer. After being pro- 
perly cleaned, it is stewed with a little butter, to 
prevent its getting a burnt flavour, and is brought to 
Belfast, where it is sold by measure usually at the 
rate of fivepence per quart. Before be^ng brought 
to table, it is again heated with an additional quan- 
tity of butter, and is usually eaten with vinegar and 
pepper. P. vulgaris is worthy of notice on account 
of the extreme difficulty with which it is preserved 
in a herbarium in a complete state: "not that there 
is any difficulty in spreading and going through the 
other steps of the process, but because when it has 
nearly arrived at the last stage of drying, a moment's 
exposure to the air will cause it to contract so in- 
stantaneously, that the edges of the paper are imme- 
diately drawn towards each, other; and if- attempted 
to be restored without the whole being first damped, 
the specimen tears through the middle, and becomes 
of little value. The edges of the plant adhere strongly 
to the paper when dry, or nearly so; but the centre 
does not adhere at all, and being as fine as gold- 
beater's leaf, though having considerable strength, 
it at once loses the little moisture it possesses, on 

e2 



:64 THE OCEAN. 

coming in contact with tlie air, and contracts with 
a force remarkable when we consider its extreme 
thinness. If the paper be thin, its four corners will 
in a moment be brought almost in contact with each 
other." The best method of obviating this incon- 
venience is said to be, when we suppose it is almost 
dry, to have a flat book held open, and the pressure 
being taken off, to remove the specimen along with 
the drying-paper covering it, as quickly as possible 
into the book, which must be instantly shut, and not 
opened till the next day, or till we know that it is 
thoroughly dry.* 

There is a substance which has been lately intro- 
duced as an article of commerce, intended as a sub- 
stitute for Iceland moss, and sold by the London 
druggists by the name of Carrageen moss ; notwith- 
standing its name, however, it is a true Alga^ Chon- 
drus crispus. It is an exceedingly variable species, 
but its most usual form is that of a flat leaf, spreading 
somewhat triangularly, or rather so as to give to its 
outline the figure of one-fourth of a circle: the edge 
is branched into numerous flat segments overlapping 
one another. When viewed under water, in a grow- 
ing state, it gives out beautiful prismatic hues. Con- 
taining a large quantity of gelatine, it has been suc- 
cessfully applied, instead of isinglass, in the making 
of blanc-mange and jellies. A fucus, probably allied 
to this, found at the Cape of Good Hope, is boiled 
into a jelly, and, being mixed with sugar and the juice 
of lemons or oranges, makes a very agreeable dish. 

I shall notice a few other Algce^ remarkable either 

*■ Drummond. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 55 

for singularity or beauty, and then dismiss these in- 
teresting tribes. The common Sea-thong {Himan- 
thalia lorea), so generally distributed, is worthy of 
observation on account of its curious mode of growth. 
From a shallow cup, afi&xed to the rock by a short 
foot-stalk, spring two or three long, olive- coloured 
straps, each of which becomes divided into two, and 
each of these into two more, in succession : these 
attain commonly the length of eight or ten feet, 
and have been asserted to reach even twenty feet. 
The thongs have been usually considered the fronds 
of this species ; but Dr. Greville thinks that the sin- 
gular cup is the true frond, and the thongs the re- 
ceptacles of the seed greatly lengthened. The surface 
of the thong is studded with tubercles, from which 
are discharged the seeds, accompanied with much 
mucus, through the pores. The cup of this species 
has been occasionally observed on exposed rocks, 
swollen into a large hollow smooth black ball, ex- 
actly round, perhaps caused by the heat of the 
sun rarefying and expanding the contained air, or 
being perhaps the indication of a diseased state of 
the plant. 

A very remarkable form, and one of singular 
beauty, is presented by the Peacock's tail {Padina 
pavonia), a species not uncommon, attached to 
rocks at the bottom of still, and generally shallow, 
marine pools. The fronds rise in form of a rounded 
fan, of a yellowish-olive tint, elegantly marked with 
concentric zones or bands, of a dark brown. One 
side, and sometimes both, is generally hoary, as if 
dusted with powder, and the outer edge is delicately 



56 THE OCEAN, 



The Peacock's Tail (Paclina pavonia). 

fringed with exceedingly minute filaments, which, in 
a living state, often reflect the prismatic colours of 
the rainbow. 

Perhaps the most lovely of all the Fuci is the De- 
lesseria sanguinea, which is a common species. It 
consists of several oblong-oval or pointed leaves, of 
extreme delicacy, with the edges very much waved 
or plaited, furnished with a midrib and side- veins, 
which materially increase their leaf-like appearance ; 
the colour is an exceedingly rich rose-pink. The' 
midrib often throws out smaller leaves, which, if. 
the main frond be destroyed, soon attains its usual 
size; an interesting provision against the accidents 
to which these apparently frail plants are neces- 
sarily exposed. The fructification of this genus is 
curious, as being of a twofold character : both 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 57 

forms are found in the winter, affixed \o the mid- 
rib, which alone survives that season, the foliaceous 
part having all decayed away. The one mode is 
by means of nearly globular capsules attached to 
the rib by short foot-stalks, and inclosing many ir- 
regularly-shaped seeds ; the other is by small mem- 
branaceous, leaf-like processes, likewise containing 
seeds. These two kinds of fructification occur on 
distinct individuals. This charming fucus, of which 
no adequate idea can be formed, by a verbal de- 
scription, retains much of its beauty when dried, 
and is very easily preserved. It is a pity that I am 
obliged to confess that its odour is very unpleasant, 
being rank and pungent. 

Some of those species, whose fronds are very de- 
licately and numerously ramified, have been used 
to form mimic pictures. By skilful arrangement, 
very pretty landscapes are thus made, the forms and 
foliage of trees being beautifully imitated. The 
kinds most commonly appropriated for this purpose 
are Plocamium coccineum and Gelidium cartilagi- 
neum, which have a very beautiful effect if simply 
expanded on smooth white paper, or on the pearly 
inner surface of large shells. The whole order Flo- 
ridecBj to which these belong, is remarkable for bril- 
liant hues, and often elegant forms. 

Like their kindred, the plants of the earth and air, 
the sea- weeds have their parasites. As the Tilland- 
sia grows on the giants of the tropical forests, and as 
the mistletoe grows upon the apple-tree of our own 
orchards, so do some of these draw their nourish- 
ment, or at least derive their support, from the fronds 



58 THE OCEAN. 

or stalks of others. Ptilota plumosa, for example, a 
delicatelj-featliered species, of a pink or purplish 
hue, is found to be parasitical on the common tan- 
gle. It is justly considered one of the ornaments of 
our southern shores, but becomes still finer as we 
approach a more southern latitude. This must not 
be confounded with another elegant little plant bear- 
ing the same specific name, but belonging to a dif- 




Beyopsis Plumosa. 



ferent genus, Bryopsis plumosa. The tribe of which 
the latter is a member is remarkable for its delicacy : 
in the one now mentioned the main stem is very 
slender, set with horizontally-spreading branches, 
like a pine-tree, each of which is most elegantly fea- 
thered. Its colour is a bright grass-green, and the 
whole surface shines as if it were varnished. It 



IS 



THE SHORES OF BEITAIN. 59 

SO delicate that in drying, the colouring matter 
•contracts in the stem, leaving interrupted spaces 
destitute of colour, and perfectly transparent. 

These are but a very few of the multitudinous sea- 
weeds which would come under the notice of an 
observant visitor to our own rocky shores ; yet how 
manifold are the indications of infinite intelligence 
and goodness even in these things proverbial for 
their vileness! And while we gratefully acknow- 
ledge the Divine hand in such species as conduce to 
man's sustenance or comfort, may we not, from the 
lavish beauty and elegance of such as are of no direct 
benefit to us, legitimately draw the same consola- 
tory inference which the Saviour drew from the 
lovely lilies at His feet ? If God so clothe these 
obscure caverns and submerged rocks, will He not 
much^ more care for those whom He has redeemed 
with the blood, and conformed to the image, of His 
Son ? Nor is the relation which He sustains to these 
frail and perishing weeds limited to an exertion of 
creative power. All are marshalled in order, each is 
provided incessantly with the requisite supplies for 
its welfare, and each is assigned to that particular 
locality which suits its habit of growth, and where 
alone it flourishes. On this subject Mr. Neill 
observes, "On our open shores a certain order is 
observed in the habitat of the Fuc% each species 
occupying pretty regularly its own zone or station. 
Chorda filurn.^ or Sea-laces, grows in water some 
fathoms deep : in places where the tide seldom en- 
tirely ebbs, but generally leaves from two to three 
feet of water, grow Alaria escidenta and Lamiaaria 



60 THE OCEAN. 

hulbosa, and the larger specimens of L. digitata and 
saccharina^ with some small kinds, as Bhodomenia 
palmata^ Halidrys siliquosa, and Delesseria san guinea. 
In places uncovered only at the lowest ebbs, smaller 
plants of L. digitata and saccharina abound with 
Eimanihalia lorea, or Sea-thongs. On the beaches 
uncovered bj every tide, F, serratus occurs lowest 
down, along with Ghondrus crispus and mammillosus ; 
next comes F. nodosus, and higher up, F. vesiculosus. 
Beyond this, F. canaliculatus still grows, thriving 
very well if only wet at flood tide, though liable 
to become dry and shrivelled during a great part of 
the day. Lastly, Lichina pygmcea is satisfied if it be 
within reach of the spray."'^ 

In examining these Algae, and especially if we 
collect them for preservation, we shall find very fre- 
quently entangled among them, branches of a sub- 
stance which adheres with so much tenacity as to 
cause no little trouble in cleansing the specimens. 
I refer to the common Coralline {CoraUina offici- 
nalis). No organic substances have so much divided 
naturalists in opinion as to their real nature as the 
Corallines. Evidently placed on the very verge of 
the animal or vegetable kingdom, it required a 
minute acquaintance with their structure, derived 
from the closest observation, and all the research 
of modern science, to decide the long uncertain 
question, and to fix them where they now by com- 
mon consent hold their place among the vegetable 
tribes. The one of which I speak, and the most 

*Edin, Encyc. Art. ''Fuci." Most of tlie species here alluded to I 
have described above. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 61 

common, being abundant on every rocky shore, or- 
dinarily presents, though subject to much variation, 
the form of a spreading bushy tuft^ from one to 
four inches high, growing from a broad stony base, 
of a shape more or less round. Each branch con- 
sists of many short joints, a little broader at the 
upper than at the lower end, which often send out 
other jointed branches from each upper shoulder, as 
well as from the centre. The joints are of a stony 




Coralline [CoralUna ojfficinalis), 

or rather shelly consistence, being chiefly a deposit 
of lime ; when dead they are perfectly white, but 
in a living state they assume a purplish tint. Lin- 
naeus and many other eminent men were deceived 
by this shelly appearance into an opinion of their 
animal nature, maintaining that animals alone ever 
produced lime. But on removing the calcareous 
deposit, we perceive that it is merely a crust en- 

F 



THE OCEAN. 



veloping an axis of an evidently vegetable cliaracter. 
On placing tlie Coralline in vinegar, or other weak 
acid, the lime is dissolved, leaving the vegetable 
part coloured as before, which, though continuous 
through its length, is constricted at the parts which 
corresponded to the joints of the crust, and looks 
very much like one of the jointed Fuci. It is very 
common to see the broad base without any jointed 
branches, for the former attains some size before 
the latter shoot, and may be seen in this state on 
almost every object between the range of high and 
low tide. It first appears as a thin, round, shelly 
patch of a purplish hue, on the shell of a Mollusk, 
or the frond of a Fucus^ or the smooth rock, 
and gradually enlarges by additions at the edge, 
the progress of which is marked by concentric 
zones, or rings of a paler tint, till it sometimes 
attains several inches in diameter. It is tenacious 
of vitality, and when the branches are all torn off 
by the violence of the waves or other accidents, 
the base still lives on, and becomes studded with 
roundish knobs. This base, when growing on a 
soft calcareous rock, will often increase much in 
thickness, without showing any tendency to throw 
out its jointed branches ; or in situations where it' 
is long uncovered by the tide, and exposed to the 
influence of the sun, it .becomes " a softish white, 
leprous crust." Its ordinary form, however, is by 
far the most pleasing, particularly when growing, as 
they delight to do, on the sides of the still, rocky 
pools already described, their bushy tufts grace- 
fully hanging over each other, like weeping wil- 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 63 

lows in miniature. Beyond its beauty I know 
not that this little creature has any obvious claim 
to our consideration, except that, in common with 
other sea-plants, it gives out oxygen, and thus 
maintains the element in which . it grows in a state 
fit for the support of animal life. But this is a 
service vastly important, and explains why the 
"floor of the ocean" is covered, as it appears to 
be, with such a profusion of vegetable life. And 
here so wisely is the balance kept up between the 
animals which absorb oxygen and the plants which 
evolve it, that, perhaps, the world could not afford 
to lose a single species of either without derange- 
ment of the existing order, which would be fol- 
lowed by manifest inconvenience. Of course our 
little Coralline cannot do much to promote this 
object ; but that it does exert some beneficial in- 
fluence, we have evidence in an experiment of 
Dr. Johnston, whose researches on these neglected 
tribes are so interesting. "Was there a need," he 
observes, " of adding any additional proof of the 
vegetability of the Corallines, an experiment in pro- 
gress before me would seem to supply it. It is 
now eight weeks ago since I placed in a small 
glass jar, containing about six ounces of pure sea- 
water, a tuft of the living Corallina officinalis^ to 
which were attached two or three minute ConfervcE^ 
and the very young frond of a green TJlva^ while 
numerous Rissoce^ several little Mussels, and An- 
nelides, and a Star-fish, were crawling amid the 
branches. The jar was placed on a table, and was 
seldom disturbed, though occasionally looked at; 



g4 THE OCEAN. 

and at the end of four weeks the water was found 
to be still pure, the Mollusca and other animals all 
alive and active, the Confervce had grown percep- 
tibly, and the Coralline itself had thrown out some 
new shoots, and several additional articulations. 
Eight weeks hav.e now elapsed since the experi- 
ment was begun, — the water has remained un- 
changed, — yet the Coralline is growing, and appa- 
rently has lost none of its vitality ; but the animals 
have sensibly decreased in number, though many 
of them continue to be active, and show no dis- 
like to their situation. What can be more conclu- 
sive? I need not say that if any animal, or even a 
sponge, had been so confined, the water would long 
before this time have been deprived of its oxygen, 
would have become corrupt and ammoniacal, and 
poisonous to the life of every living thing."* 

Who is not familiar with Sponge, — with its soft- 
ness, its elasticity, its capacity of absorbing and re- 
taining fluids, and other qualities which render it so 
valuable in domestic economy ? And yet how few 
are aware that it is the skeleton of an animal ! In 
fact. Sponge is one of those dubious forms which 
God has placed in the great system of Creation, on 
the confines of the two great divisions of brganio 
beings, apparently having little in common with 
either. Like the Corallines, the Sponges have af- 
forded occasion for much controversy as to their 
proper position ; but they are now pretty unani- 
mously assigned to the animal kingdom. The com- 
mon Sponge of household purposes {Spongia offici- 

* Britisli Sponges, p. 215. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 65 

nalis) is a native of the Mediterranean, but is much 
more familiar to us than our native species, of which 
there are many. The appearance which it presents 
is that of an irregularly-shaped mass, more or less 
rounded, composed of a brown woolly substance, 
perforated by innumerable pores in all directions, 
and having in addition, wide canals communicating 
with each other, and terminating in round holes or 
mouths on the surface. But if we take a small por- 
tion of the substance, and place it under a common 
magnifying lens, we shall see that it is composed of 
shining, horny, nearly-transparent fibres, which, by 
uniting with each other at all angles and distances, 
form a loose and very irregular network. Now, 
when in a living state, every fibre was enclosed in a 
coating of thin, clear jelly, which formed the living 
animal, the horny fibres constituting, as I have inti- 
mated above, only the skeleton. Imbedded in the 
substance of many species, some British ones, for 
example, are found spiculoe, or needle-like crystals, 
of pure flint, varying much in shape in various kinds, 
while other species have similar crystals of lime. 
"Where these occur in considerable numbers, the 
Sponge does not possess elasticity: it may be 
crushed, but it will not regain its original form. 
It is a singular fact, that Sponges of these three 
different kinds are sometimes found growing close 
to each other, and all alike nourished by the same 
simple fluid, pure sea- water ; yet they elaborate 
therefrom products so different as horn, flint, and 
lime. The animal nature of Sponges is not easily 
to be detected : no indication of sensation has ever 

5 f2 



66 THE OCEAN. 

hem perceived in tliem when living, even though 
violence in many modes has been offered to them ; 
though beaten, pinched with hot irons, cut or torn, 
or subjected to the action of the strongest acids. 
The substance . may be destroyed, but there is no 
contraction, nor the slightest evidence of feeling; 
' "^ to all appearance they are as passive as the rock on 
s^l which they grow. One proof of their animality, 
'H however, is open to any one: we are all familiar 
[S^ with a peculiar smell produced when horn, wool, 
) p. feathers^&c, are burned ; this smell arises from the 
h^ presence of ammonia^ and is peculiar to animal mat- 
i . ' ter ; on burning a bit of Sponge this animal odour 
yj is strongly perceptible. On viewing a living Sponge, 
^^ however, in water, with care and attention, it is 
found to exhibit a constant and energetic action, 
which sufficiently shows its vitality. Dr. Grant's 
account of his discovery of this motion in a native 
¥ species is so interesting, that, though I have quoted 
] ^' it in another treatise, I may be forgiven for repeat- 
[ ,* ing it here. "I put a small branch of the Spongia 
k u coalita^ with some sea- water, into a watch-glass, 
1^ under the microscope : and on reflectiDg the light 
^ of a candle through the fluid, I soon perceived that 
f V there was some intestine motion in the opaque par- 
ticles floating through the water. On moving the 
J ^ watch-glass, so as to bring one of the apertures on 
f ^ the side of the Sponge fully into view, I beheld, for 
^i the first time, the splendid spectacle of this living 
5 ^ fountain vomiting forth from a circular cavity an 
^ impetuous torrent of liquid matter, and hurling 
4,j along in rapid succession, opaque masses, which it 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 6»j 

strewed every where around. The beauty and no- 
velty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long 
arrested my attention ; but after twenty-five minutes 
of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw 
my eye from fatigue, without having seen the tor- 
rent for one instant change its direction, or diminish 
in the slightest degree the rapidity of its course. I 
continued to watch the same orifice, at short inter- 
vals, for five hours, sometimes observing it for a 
quarter of an hour at a time ; but still the stream 
rolled on with a constant and equal velocity." 

Sponges, in general, appear to have little choice 
of situation, but to grow wherever the young offset 
or gemmule happens to drop, whether on the rock, 
on a shell, or on a sea- weed. If two of the same 
species, growing side by side, come into contact, 
their edges unite, and the two form one mass, so 
perfectly one that the most practised eye could de- 
tect no indication of the line of union. On the con- 
trary, if the neighbours be of different species, the 
edges adhere by contact, but there is no union; and 
both of the contiguous edges will grow up far be- 
yond their natural level, like walls striving to over- 
top each other, until the action of the waves pre- 
vents the continuance of a mode of growth so un- 
natural. Dr. Johnston speaks of two species of 
Sponge which had become so intermingled in 
growth, without being united, that, being of differ- 
ent colours, they presented the appearance of a 
coloared map. The same writer has figured a much- 
branched species (HaUchoiidria ocuhta), growing on 
the back of a small crab : the latter has a grotesque 



68 THE OCEAN. 

appearance crawling under tlie perpetual shadow of 
its own tree, tlie burden of whose weight, however, 
was probably more than compensated by the pro- 
tection it afforded against enemies. 

A singular little creature, called the Hermit Crab 
(Pagurus), the hinder part of whose body is unpro- 
tected, except by a soft skin, is endowed with an 
instinct which prompts it to seek some univalve 
shells, into which it thrusts its abdomen, henceforth 
using it as a house. Now there is a species of 
Sponge found on our coast (H. suberea), of a corky 
substance, which grows on the surface of similar 
shells, overspreading and enveloping them; and it 
so happens that in the great majority of instances, 
the Sponge is found upon the individual shells in- 
habited by the Hermit. Grradually and insensibly 
the Sponge grows over the shell, and at length creeps 
round the edge of the lip, and begins to line the 
inside : the constant motion of the crab, who is very 
active, retards the growth for a while, but eventually 
the Sponge prevails, and the Hermit, finding his pre- 
mises becoming every day more and more contracted, 
is at length compelled to seek another lodging. A 
proceeding very similar to this, but which the Her- 
mit Crab finds rather to his advantage than discom- 
fort, takes place in the growth of a species of Coral 
{Alcyonium ecMnatum). This coral also very fre- 
quently grows on a shell selected for a habitation 
by the little crab ; but as it grows, it does not line 
the shell, but becomes moulded, as it were, to the 
form. of the enclosed animal, thus increasing the size 
and commodiousness of the dwelling, and precluding 



THE SHORES OP BKITAIN. 69 

tlie necessity of quitting the tenement. Mr. Gray 
remarks on this: — "One can understand that the 
Crab may have the instinct to search for shells on 
which the coral has begun to grow; but this will 
scarcely explain why we never find the coral except 
on shells in which Hermit Crabs have taken up their 
residence." 

One of the most pleasing forms that are presented 
by the Sponges, which are exceedingly various, is 
that of a cup with a dilated foot ; it is about as large 
as a tea-cup, but is more funnel-shaped, whence its 
name {H. infundihuliformis). A similar species from 
the Indian seas, commonly called Neptune's Cup, 
though much larger, is inferior to our little goblet in 
neatness of appearance and sponginess of texture. 

Our shores abound with examples of those asto- 
nishing forms of animal life, the Polypes, both simple 
and aggregated. The former under the names of 
Animal-flowers, and Sea-anemones, have attracted 
general admiration from their intrinsic beauty, and 
from their very close resemblance to composite 
flowers. When out of water, or reposing, they 
usually take a semi- globular shape, adhering by a 
broad base to the rocks, but some are somewhat 
lengthened and cylindrical. The centre of the upper 
surface is depressed, and there is evidently an aper- 
ture which has been closed. When seeking for prey 
this orifice opens, by its edges turning inside out, as 
it were, and dilates, until it is as wide as the base ; 
while from within the lip, or outer rim, protrude a 
multitude of fleshy rays, called iejitacula, arranged 
in three or four rows extending all round. In the 



YO THE OCEAN. 

centre of the expanding disk is the real month, or 
opening into the stomach. It is these tentacula, 
which, spreading around exactly like the rays of 
an aster or marigold, give to the Polype so striking 
a likeness of a flower. These animals are exceed- 
ingly voracious ; though when closed, you would 
think them a mere lump of jelly-like flesh, utterly 
helpless and incapable of any exertion ; yet when 
the tentacula are all expanded, no small crab, or 
shrimp, or mussel, can even touch one of them with 
impunity. From some cause, not thoroughly under- 
stood, each tentacle has the power of adhering with 
wonderful tenacity to any object on the slightest con- 
tact. I have often been surprised at the force re- 
quired to draw away my finger when I have gently 
touched one. No sooner, then, has some little 
shelled Mollusk been thus caught, than instantly 
other tentacles lay hold of it also, and it is inevitably 
dragged by their contraction into the mouth. It 
remains in the stomach a few hours, when the shelly 
entirely cleared of all the meat, is vomited through 
the mouth, there being but one orifice to the body. 
The Polype is capable of great dilatation, which en- 
ables it to swallow an animal even much larger than 
the ordinary dimensions of its own body. A very 
curious instance of this I shall presently mention; 
but first I must allude to that which forms the most 
wonderful feature in its history, the power of repro- 
ducing any parts that have been cut off. To so 
great an extent does this power prevail, that eveii 
if cut into many parts, each separate part will put 
forth the parts wanting, and soon become a complete 



THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. YI 

animal. For example, if, with a sharp knife, a P6- 
lype be cut into two by a horizontal section, midway 
between the tentacles and the base, the upper por- 
tibn will adhere to a rock, close the bottom of the 
stomach, and take its former shape ; the under part 
will throw out rudimentary tentacles around the 
centre, which will soon be in a condition to take 
food, and the original form and functions will be 
displayed by this portion also. Nay, it has eveii 
been found that if, as often happens, the animal, 
being violently removed from its support, leave be- 
hind any fragments of its base still adhering, each 
of these torn portions will, in a short time, acquire 
all the parts of the perfect animal. These powbrs 
strongly remind one of vegetable life ; for it is as if 
one were making cuttings, aiid consequently new 
plants, of a fuchsia or verbena. The ordinary modd 
in which the Polypes continue their race is very 
plant-like; the young grow from any part of the 
surface like little buds, and when they have at- 
tained the form of the parent, drop off; often, how- 
ever, they are vomited through the mouth. Any 
of my young readers who live near the coast may 
easily verify these observations ; but I would not 
recommend the artificial mode of increasing the 
animals, because, though it may well be doubted 
whether they are susceptible of pain, such experi- 
ments have an ajppearance of cruelty at least, which, 
it is well to avoid. In some situations you will 
find in abundance Actinia gemmacea^ the most lovely 
of our native animal flowers, which I will describe. 
When closed, it is of a rounded or sometimes oval 



•72 THE OCEAN. 

shape, somewhat flattened, about an inch and a 
half in diameter, very variable in colour : some- 
times being of a brilliant scarlet with pale warts, 
like rows of ornamental beads; at other times it 
is of a sulphur yellow, or pale green, with stripes 
of orange colour; and I have seen specimens of 
a lively rose-pink, studded with green dots. When 
expanded, it displays three or four circles of ten- 
tacles, which are rather short and thick, and varie- 
gated with white and red in alternate rings. 
Sometimes, by imbibing a large quantity of water, 
it becomes distended to twice its usual dimensions, 
and is then nearly transparent. There is an in- 
stinct displayed by this species, . which one would 
not expect to find in a creature of so low an organ- 
ization, and which is worthy of our admiration, 
as showing how mindful the gracious Creator and 
Preserver is of His creatures' well-being. Such 
individuals as have taken up their residence upon 
the half- submerged rocks, where the daily recess 
of the tide exposes them to observation, are covered 
with rough warts, and blotched with dusky brown 
and dull orange, and are coated with fragments of 
shells, sea-weed, and gravel, which adhere to the 
skin by a glutinous secretion, so strongly as not 
to be washed off; and being thus veiled, the ani- 
mals defy detection. On the other hand, those 
specimens which live in deep water, as if aware 
that the necessity for concealment no longer ex- 
ists, have nothing of the kind, their skins are 
smooth and naked, and adorned with the vivid 
tints which make this species so beautiful. The 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. Y3 

Actinia are easily procured, and kept alive a long 
time in sea-water without difficulty ; in a glass 
vessel their beauty is displayed to advantage, need- 
ing only the precaution of supplying them with 
pure sea- water every two or three days at most, 
or they will throw off their skin in ragged pieces, 
become discoloured, and die. They are capable of 
very long fasts, although, as I observed before, vo- 
racious enough when food is to be obtained. Dr. 
Johnston tells us of a specimen of the A. gemmacea 
once brought to him, ''that might have been ori- 
ginally two inches in diameter, and that had some- 
how contrived to swallow a valve of Pecten maximus 
(the great Scallop) of the size of an ordinary saucer. 
The shell, fixed within the stomach, was so placed 
as to divide it completely into two halves, so that 
the body, stretched tensely over, had become thin 
and flattened like a pancake. All communication 
between the inferior portion of the stomach and 
the mouth was of course prevented ; yet, instead 
of emaciating, and dying of atrophy, the animal 
had availed itself of what undoubtedly had been a 
very untoward accident, to increase its enjoyments 
and its chances of doable fare. A new mouth, fur- 
nished with two rows of numerous tentacula, was 
opened upon what had been the base, and led to 
the under stomach : the individual had indeed be- 
come a sort of Siamese twin, but with greater inti- 
macy and extent in its unions '.""^ 

J]ach of these animal flowers, except in the case 
of such accidental monstrosities as the one just men- 

* Brit. Zooph. p. 224. 



74 THD OCEAJT. 

tioned, is a distinct and independent animal; but 
there are some wliich, while they possess a general 
similarity in structure to these, exist only in aggre- 
gated communities ; many individual Polypes being 
clustered upon a somewhat solid body called a Po- 
lypidom, which is, when alive, clothed with a fleshy 
coat, believed to be capable of communicating and 
receiving sensations to or from all the Polypes. 
The teat-shaped bodies, familiarly called by the 
fishermen Cow's-paps, when simple, and Dead-man's 
toes, when branched, is a common example; the 
Alcyonium digitatum of zoologists. It consists of 
a leathery substance, capable of contraction, studded 
with orifices, whence project little stars with eight 
rays, which are the expanded tentacles of the small 
Polypes that inhabit the hollows. Those beautiful 
productions, the Corals, some of which I may have 
occasion to notice hereafter, are also formed on the 
same model. They have generally a more solid 
stem, partaking of the nature of stone, and branch 
out in imitation of shrubs. The stony or horny 
centre is, however, clothed with gelatinous flesh, in 
which, as in the former instance, hollows occur at 
intervals, occupied by minute star-shaped Polypes. 
The warty white coral {Gorgonia verrucosa\ not 
uncommon with us, is of this structure, having a 
stony skeleton; but in the beautiful Sea- fan {G, 
flaheUum\ the skeleton shows more the texture of 
bone, or perhaps of horn ; it is black, but is clothed 
with flesh of a yellow colour, or sometimes purple. 
Prom the ramifications being very numerous, and 
uniting with each other at short intervals, like the 



THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. 



?5 



meslies of a net, this species is a very beautiful 
one. Its polypes, as in the other instances, have 
eight tentacles. This is exceedingly rare, though 
it has occurred on the British shores. 

But more singular than either of these is the 
form of a Polypidom, often brought up by fishermen 
attached to their baits, and by them called Cocks'- 
comb, or rather more appropriately. Sea-pen {Pen- 
natula phosphor ea). It very closely resembles a 




Sea-fan {Gorgonia fiahellim), and SeA-pen {Pennatula phosphorea) 



broad feather from two or three inches in length, 
and of a purplish colour. The lower part is cy- 
lindrical, or nearly so, and represents the quill, 
and the tip of this is tinged with orange. Above 
this the stem is fringed on each side with very re- 
gular, flat, dentated processes, diminishing gradually 



76 THE OCEAN.- 

to the tip, representing the vane. Along the npper 
edge of each of these pinnce are placed the cells, 
inhabited by minute, white, eight-rayed Polypes. 
The stem contains a long, needle-shaped bone, very 
slender at each extremity, which is bent backwards 
so as to form a hook. Some authors have affirmed 
that the Sea-pen swims freely in the sea by the 
waving motion of its pinnae,; but modern observa- 
tions tend to throw discredit on this statement, 
which in itself seems improbable: the fishermen 
affirm that it abides with its stem inserted in the 
mud at the bottom ; and those which have been 
kept for observation have remained at the bottom 
of the vessel, without any apparent power of even 
turning over on the other side. This species, as 
its scientific name imports, is one of the many ani- 
mals that inhabit the sea, which are endowed with 
the faculty of producing light : in this instance, it 
appears from experiments that the power is exerted 
as a means of defence, as only when injured or irri- 
tated does the animal give out its light, which is of 
a faint-bluish cast. Its sudden illumination at the 
bottom of the sea may have the effect of terrifying 
some of its enemies, and of thus protecting it from 
the dangers to which its otherwise helpless frame 
would be exposed. 



THE SHOEES OF BKITAIN. 

CONTINUED. 

There is one aspect in wliicTi, if we view the sea, 
it speaks eloquently the beneficence of God to man ; 
namely, as the source from whence he draws an inex- 
haustible supply of wholesome and nourishing food. 
And there is no nation more favoured in this respect 
than Great Britain : the seas which surround us are 
stocked with a vast variety of fishes, the great ma- 
jority of which are eatable. - Erom the form of our 
coasts, there is always at some part access to the 
sea, the wind which locks up the ports of one coast 
leaving others free; the numerous bays, harbours, 
and inlets offer a refuge to which to run in unfa- 
vourable weather, as well as a market for the dis- 
posal of the produce taken; while the bold and 
hardy character of our population qualifies them to 
take advantage of a proffered source of profit, though 
not unattended with risk. Accordingly, we find 
that the fisheries afford to this country a revenue 
of great value ; and an immense quantity of cheap 
animal food is produced by them, the importance of 
which can hardly be overrated. The prosperity of 
Holland is notoriously founded upon the zeal, in- 
dustry, and success with which her sons have prose- 
cuted the herring-fishery ; a fact which is announced 
g2 77 



*IS THE OCEAN. 

in the well-known Diitcli saying, " The city of Am- 
sterdam is built upon herring-bones :" and though, 
from the superiority of our internal resources, we 
are not compelled to give so undivided an atten- 
tion to the scaly tenants of the deep as they have 
been, we may still assert, that on a similar base stand 
many of our importajUt seaport towns. Let us then 
examine these finny tribes, which come so strongly 
recommended to our notice, and see if we cannot dis- 
cover in their formation and economy evidences of 
that all-pervading wisdom and goodness of which we 
have had occasion before to speak. 

An intelligent observer can scarcely fail to be 
struck with the perfect adaptation of fishes for swift 
motion through a dense fluid. The form mostj suited 
for rapid progression is that of a spindle, swelling in 
the middle and tapering to the extremities : and this 
is the general form of fishes. The variations from 
this normal shape are comparatively rare, and con- 
sist chiefly in the lengthening of the body, as in the 
Eels, or in widening its diameter perpendicularly, as 
in the Flat-fishes, or horizontally, as in the Skates. 
But in these cases, and similar ones, the exceptions 
are made to suit variations in habits, for the Skates 
and Flat-fishes are intended not for rapid swimming, 
but for lying flat upon the bottom ; while the worm- 
like form of the Eels enables them to insinliate them- 
selves with facility through the mud and ooze, or 
even to leave the water and crawl upon the shore. 
Still, however, in both, the usual form is to be 
traced, the central part of the body being the widest 
and the extremities being pointed. The facility of 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIi^. "79 

motion possessed by fishes is partly dependent on 
their simplicity of figure, the absence of those pro- 
minent limbs which project from the bodies of most 
other vertebrate animals; the head, witTaout any 
visible neck, merging into the rounded body, which 
terminates in the tail in an almost unbroken out- 
line, for the fins are usually so slight and mem- 
branous in their texture as scarcely to diminish this 
unity of form. The smooth and glittering armour, 
in which these animals are for the most part in- 
vested, tends to the same end. Feathers pr fur 
would greatly impede progress through water; and 
as the tribe of fishes are what is commonly called 
cold-blooded, or of nearly the same temperature as 
the fluid that surrounds them, those non-conductors 
of heat would be of no service, the animal heat ne- 
cessary for existence not being liable to be abstracted. 
In place of those clothing substances, the fish's 
body is encased in a coat of mail formed of many 
pieces of similar shape, of a transparent horny sub- 
stance, which are imbedded in the skin on the side 
next the head, and overlap the succeeding ones 
at the posterior edge, like the tiles of a house. 
It is obvious how beautifully and effectually this 
formation precludes any impediment in swimming, 
arising from the free edges of the scales. These 
are so closely pressed on each other, that the water 
cannot penetrate, and are covered, moreover, in 
many fishes with a glutinous slime, which water 
does not dissolve. The scales of fishes afford objects 
of very beautiful structure when viewed with a mi- 
croscope. They are various in their form; those 



80 



THE OCEAN. 



from different parts of the body not being quite 
alike even in the same fish. They are not per- 
fectly flat, but take the form of a very flattened 
cone, of which the apex is usually a little behind the 
middle. Between this point and the edge there is a 
great number of concentric flutings, too fine, as well 
as too near each other, to be readily counted; and it 
is presumed that each of these lines indicates a stage 
in the growth of the scale; that the scale is in- 
creased, perhaps annually, or perhaps oftener, by a 
deposit of horny matter on the surface next the skin, 
each of which deposits exceeds in diameter that 
which preceded it, by a very minute amount on eve^y 








Scales op Fishes. 



side. The concentric lines are often traversed by 
other lines, diverging with great regularity from the 
apex. The edg^s are sometimes cut into points, 
scallops, or waves, of exquisite symmetry; the sur- 
face is often variously sculptured; and the whole 
presents a specimen of the most elaborate workman- 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 81 

ship, worthy of the Divine hand that formed it. 
The scales of some fishes are so minute as to be 
with difficulty distinguishable; such as those of the 
Eel: to procure these for microscopical examination, 
''take a piece of the skin of the Eel that grows on 
the side, and while it is moist spread it on a piece 
of glass, that it may dry very smooth ; when thus 
dried, the surface will appear all over dimpled or 
pitted by the scales, which lie under a sort of cuticle, 
or thin skin: this skin may be raised with the sharp 
point of a penknife, together with the scales, which 
will then easily slip out, and thus you may procure 
as many as you please."* 

The limbs of fishes differ greatly in appearance 
from those of terrestrial animals ; consisting, as to 
the portion external to the body, of slender spines, 
sometimes cartilaginous and jointed, at others bony 
and simple, united by means of a thin membrane 
stretched from one to the other. Generally there 
are two pairs on the under part of the body, which 
are called the pectoral and the ventral fins, and re- 
present respectively the fore and hind legs of qua- 
drupeds, or the wings and feet of a bird. Besides 
these, there are one or more perpendicular fins along 
the back, called the dorsal, and one below the body, 
near the tail, called the anal ; but the main instru- 
ment of motion is the broad, perpendicular fin, which 
terminates the body, often called the tail, but, more 
correctly, the caudal or tail fin. To rightly under- 
stand the motions of a fish, we must bear in mind 
that it is immersed in a fluid which is of little less 

* Martin's Micrographia Nova, p, 29. 



82 THE OCEAN. 

specific gravity than its own body ; but in order to 
regulate its own weight, it is provided with an in- 
ternal bladder, filled with air, and furnished with 
muscles for its compression or expansion: by the 
former process rendering its body heavier, and by 
the latter lighter than the water. It is true there are 
many fishes which are destitute of the air-bladder; 
but these are, for the most part, ground fishes, which 
reside habitually upon the bottom, rarely swimming 
to any distance. The tail, as was observed, is the 
grand organ of progression; and most of the muscles 
of the body are so inserted upon the joints of the 
spine as to give the greatest possible energy to the 
motions of this organ. Its expansion is vertical, and 
its motion is only horizontal, from right to left : so 
that, striking the water on either side with great force, 
the fish shoots rapidly forward in the direction of 
the line of the body, but cannot, by its means, ascend 
or descend. The direction of a fish's motion is go- 
verned by the pectoral and ventral fins, which aid, 
likewise, in balancing the body, and obviate the 
tendency to turn belly uppermost, a position which 
a dead fish assumes, from the weight of the muscular 
back being superior to that of the hollow and air- 
filled belly. There is considerable diversity in the 
depth of water which different species of fishes habit- 
ually inhabit; and this depends, in a great measure, on 
the position of the ventral fins. Such as mainly reside 
at or near the surface have them so placed that the 
centre of the body shall fall nearly midway between 
them and the pectorals. Those whose habits lead 
them to range to great distances without any material 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 83 

change in their depth of water, have the ventral fins 
placed far back on the belly, as the Herring and the 
Salmon ; while those which feed at the bottom in deep 
water, but yet have considerable power of swimming, 
such as the Cod, require the ventrals to be situated 
near the head, sometimes even in advance of the pec- 
torals, in order to act with rapidity and effect upon 
the fore part of the body, which is usually heavy in 
such fishes. The Flat-fishes and Skates, in which the 
ventrals are little developed, and the Eels, in which 
they are wanting, rarely quit the ground, but grovel 
on the mud in shallow water. Many fishes haVe cer- 
tain spines of the fins developed into stiff and for- 
midable weapons, and others have equally effective 
armour placed upon the gill-covers, the sides of the 
body or the tail. "With these, which are usually 
jointed, and which the fish has the power of erecting 
stiffly, and of directing with considerable precision, it 
sometimes inflicts severe wounds on the incautious 
fisherman, as well as on its opponent, in the battles 
with its own kind, which often occur. The little 
Stickleback (Gasterosteus), which abounds all round 
the coast, as well as in our fresh waters, is armed 
with sharp spines on the back and sides, which it 
wields like a perfect tyrant. " When a few are first 
turned into a tub of water, they swim about in a 
shoal, apparently exploring their new habitation. 
Suddenly one will take possession of a particular 
corner of the tub, or, as it will sometimes happen, of 
the bottom, and will instantly commence an attack 
upon his companions ; and if any one of them ven- 
tures to oppose his sway, a regular and most furious 



84 THE OCEAN. 

battle ensues; the two combatants swim round and 
round eacb other with the greatest rapidity, biting, 
and endeavouring to pierce each other with their 
spines, which on these occasions are projected. I 
have witnessed a battle of this sort which lasted 
several minutes before either would give way; and 
when one does submit, imagination can hardly con- 
ceive the vindictive fury of the conqueror ; who, in 
the most persevering and unrelenting way, chases his 
rival from one part of the tub to another, until fairly 
exhausted with fatigue. They also use their spines 
with such fatal effect, that, incredible as it may ap- 
pear, I have seen one during a battle absolutely rip 
his opponent quite open, so that he sank to the bot- 
tom, and died. I have occasionally known three or 
four parts of the tub taken possession of by as many 
other little tyrants, who guard their territories with 
the strictest vigilance, and the slightest invasion in- 
variably brings on a battle."* The Sting-rays {Try- 
gon\ which are furnished with a hard and sharp spine 
with toothed edges, near the base of the tail, are ac- 
customed to twist their long and flexible tail around 
their enemy, while they inflict severe wounds with 
the barbed spine. The Common Skates {Raia\ on 
the other hand, which have the tail studded with 
rows of curved horny thorns, when irritated, are said 
to bend the body nearly into a circle, and to dash 
about the armed tail with violence in all directions. 

The goodness of God is manifest in the gregarious 
habits of most of those fishes which constitute an im- 
portant article of human food, in the innumerable 

* Mag. Nat. Hist. iii. 329. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 85 

individuals of whicli the shoals are composed, and 
ill the fecundity by which the populousness of these 
shoals are maintained. Nine millions of eggs have 
been ascertained to exist in the roe of a single Cod, 
and the hosts of this, and other species, which during 
the fishing-season crowd our shores, are utterly be- 
yond, human calculation. These swarms were for- 
merly believed to perform vast annual migrations in 
military order from the Polar regions in spring, and 
back again to their homes " beneath the ice" in the 
autumn. The groundlessness, and even absurdity of 
this notion has been shown, and it is now generally 
known, that the fishes are at no part of the year 
more than a few miles distant from the coast, but 
that on the approach of warm weather an unerring 
instinct teaches them, as by common impulse, to 
seek the shallows near the shore, in order to deposit 
their spawn within the' vivifying influence of the 
summer sun. This grand business of life being ac- 
complished, they again retire, not to the Arctic ice, 
but to the deep water of the offing, where they may 
again rove in freedom and conscious security. And 
this is an admirable ordination of Divine Provi- 
dence, that these tribes are thus periodically brought 
within the reach of man precisely at the season 
when they are in the highest condition, and there- 
fore most wholesome, as well as most agreeable. 
Per they come from the deep water fat, and in 
full health and vigour; but after having spawned 
they return sickly and poor, to recruit their ex- 
hausted strength. 

The Herring family {Clupeadai\ including the 
"h 



86 THE OCEAN. 

common Herring, tlie Pilchard, the Sprat, the Shad, 
&c., are the most important objects of our fisheries, 
and particularly the first-named two species. 

The fishery for the Pilchard is carried on almost 
exclusively in the counties of Cornwall and Devon ; 
the Herring is more generally diffused, but the 
greatest numbers taken are on the shores of Scot- 
land and the adjacent islands. Some idea of the 
commercial importance of these two animals may be 
formed from the facts, that between three and four 
hundred thousand barrels of Herrings are sometimes 
cured in a single year in Great Britain alone, besides 
all that are sold while fresh ; and that ten thousand 
hogsheads of Pilchards have been taken on shore 
in one port in a single day, '' thus providing," says 
Mr. Yarrell, "the enormous multitude of twenty-five 
millions of living creatures drawn at once from the 
ocean for human sustenance." The shoals of Herrings 
are occasionally known to approach the shore with so 
headlong an impetuosity as to be unable to regain 
deep water, and are stranded upon the beach in im- 
mense numbers. Mr. Mudie has described such an 
incident. " The rocky promontory at the east end 
of the county of vPife, off which there lies an exten- 
sive reef or rock, sometimes has that effect, and there 
have been seas [seasons ?] in which, when the difiicul- 
ties of the place were augmented by a strong wind at 
south-east, that carried breakers "upon the reef, and a 
heavy surf along the shore, the beach for many miles 
has been covered with a bank of Herrings several 
feet in depth, which, if taken and salted when first 
left by the tide, would have been worth many 



THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. 8t 

thousands of ponnds, but which, as there was not a 
sufficient supply of salt in the neighbourhood, were 
allowed to remain putrefying on the beach until the 
farmers found leisure to cart them away as manure. 
One of these strandings took place in and around the 
harbour of the small town of Crail only a few years 
ago. The water appeared at first so full of Herrings 
that half a dozen could be taken by one dip of a 
basket. Numbers of people thronged to the water's 
edge, and fished with great success; and the public 
crier was sent through the town to proclaim that 
" caller herrin," that is, Herrings fresh out of the sea, 
might be had at the rate of forty a penny. As the 
water rose the fish accumulated, till numbers were 
stunned, and the rising tide was bordered with fish, 
with which baskets could be filled in an instant. The 
crier was, upon this, instructed to alter his note, and 
the people were invited to repair to the shore, and 
get Herrings at one shilling a cart-load. But every 
successive wave of the flood added to the mass of 
fish, and brought it nearer to the land, which caused 
a fresh invitation to whoever might be inclined to 
come and take what Herrings they chose gratis. The 
fish still continued to accumulate till the height of 
the flood, and when the water began to ebb, they 
remained on the beach. It was rather early in the 
season, so that warm weather might be expected; 
and the effluvia of many putrid fish might occasion 
disease; therefore the corporation offered a reward 
of one shilling to every one who would remove a full 
cart-load of Herrings from that part of the shore 
which was under their jurisdiction. The fish being 



I 



88 THE OCEAN. 

immediately from the deep water, were in the highest 
condition, and barely dead. All the salt from the 
town and neighbourhood was instantly put in requi- 
sition, but it did not suffice for the thousandth part 
of the mass, a great proportion of which, notwith- 
standing some not very successful attempts to carry 
off a few sloop-loads in bulk, was lost."* 

The Herring appears on our shores in the middle 
of summer, but seems to approach the coast of Scot- 
land earlier ; for in Sutherland the fishery commences 
in June, and in Cromarty even so early as May, 
while the Yarmouth season rarely begins till Septem- 
ber. They are taken chiefly by means of drift-nets, 
and by far the majority are cured : in the first part 
of the season, however, they are often so rich as to be 
unfit for salting, and these are sold for consumption 
while fresh. About the month of November the 
shoals spawn, and are then unfit for eating, and the 
fishery ceases. As is universally known, there are 
two modes of curing this fish, producing what are 
called white and red herrings. The former requiring 
only to be placed in barrels with salt, the process can 
be performed in the fishing- craft ; consequently the 
vessels for this fishery are larger, being qualified to 
keep the sea. Eed herrings, however, require a 
much more elaborate process, which cannot be per- 
formed on board, and the procuring of them is essen- 
tially a shore fishery. The Yarmouth men confine 
themselves to this branch. They sprinkle the fish 
with salt, and lay them in a heap on a stone or brick 
floor, where they remain about six days ; they are 

■* Brit. Naturalist. 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 




Yarmouth Jetty, in the Herring Fishery. 



then washed, and spitted one by one on long wooden 
rods, which pass through the gills ; great care is re- 
quired that they may not touch each other as they 
hang; the rods are then suspended on ledges, tier 
above tier, from the top of the house to within eight 
feet of the ground; a fire is then kindled and fed 
with green wood, chiefly oak or beach, and main- 
tained with occasional intermissions, for about three 
weeks, or, if the fish are intended for exportation, a 
month ; the fire is then extinguished, and the house 
allowed to cool, and in a few days the herrings are 
barrelled. 

2h 



aa THE OCEAN. 

Next in importance to the members of tlie above 
valuable family is the Mackerel, the most elegantly 
beautiful of the finny tribes that throng our shores. 
It is in season earlier than the Herring, usually 
appearing in spring, and the fishery is prosecuted in 
May and June, as in the latter month it spawns. It 
occurs in most abundance in the southern part of the 
kingdom, the coasts of Kent and Sussex being the 
chief stations of the fishery. The Mackerel is taken 
principally by nets, which are so set as to arrest 
the fish while roving about during the night ; many, 
however, are taken by means of the hook, the fa- 
vourite bait being a strip of flesh cut from the tail of 
a fresh Mackerel, or, in default thereof, a bit of red 
cloth : the fish bite most readily when the boat is 
sailing rapidly before the wind. The value of this 
fish depends, in a more than common degree, on its 
freshness ; and hence it is important that no time be 
lost in conveying it to market. Fast-sailing boats 
are therefore kept in readiness to convey the cargoes 
to London as soon as caught, which usually find it 
advantageous to secure the aid of steam in ascending 
the river, as the loss of a single tide may diminish 
the value of the cargo one half, or even render it 
utterly unsaleable. During the season, not less than 
one hundred thousand are thus brought to Billings- 
gate per week. 

The preceding species, coming in swarming shoals 
into the shallow waters, are usually taken by nets ; 
but the Cod, another very valuable fish having dif- 
ferent habits, is taken singly, by hook and line. It 
does not appear that the Cod is gregarious from 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 



91 




Mackerel-boat off Hastings. 



choice; or in any other sense than that of many 
individuals independently actuated by a similar mo- 
tive, flocking to anyplace where food is plentiful. 
The Cod rarely comes into the shallows ; but haunts 
the deep water, feeding at the rocky bottom, on 
marine worms, Crustacea, and shelled mollusca. It 
is a voracious fish. Mr. Crouch records having taken 
thirty-five crabs, none of them less than a half-crown 
piece, from the stomach of a single Cod : his greedi- 
ness is often his own destruction and the fisher- 
man's advantage, for it induces him readily to seize 
the bait. It is most abundant on the north and 
west coasts of Scotland, but is taken in consider- 
able plenty all round the coasts of our island. In 



92 THE OCEAN. 

some oi the Hebrides there are large pools for the 
preservation of sea-fishes, hollowed out of the solid 
rock, and communicating with the sea by narrow 
clefts at high tide. Great numbers of Cod-fishes 
are kept in these vivaria, and are fed with various 
garbage, or the bodies of other fishes. The stock 
is replenished bj casting in such individuals as are 
but slightly injured by the hook in fishing, while 
small ones, or such as are lacerated, are thrown into 
the same receptacle, as food for their more fortunate 
brethren. There are two modes of capturing the 
Cod with the hook : the one is with what are called 
in Cornwall bulters, which are long lines, to which 
are attached, at regular distances, other lines six feet 
in length, each bearing a hook; the intervals are 
twice the length of the small lines, to. prevent their 
intertwining; these are shot across the course of the 
tide. The other mode is by hand-lines, of which 
each fisherman holds two, one in each hand, and 
each line bears two hooks at its extremity, which 
are kept apart by a stout wire going from one to the 
other. A heavy leaden weight is attached near 
the hooks, and thus .the fisherman feels when his 
bait is ofi* the ground. He continually jerks them 
up and down, and is thus aware of a fish the moment 
it is secured. Although this seems a somewhat 
tedious process of fishing compared with the im- 
mense draughts of the net, it is found in skilful 
hands to be productive : eight men on the Dogger- 
bank have taken eighty score of Cod in a day. It 
is a heavy fish : Pennant records one which weighed 
781bs., but this' was a giant ; it was sold at Scar- 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 93 

boroiigli for one shilling I The fish are brought to 
the mouth of the Thames in stout cutters, furnished 
with wells, in which they remain alive; hence they 
are sent up in portions to Billingsgate by the night 
.tide. The cutters lie at Gravesend: for if they 
were to advance any higher up the river, the ad- 
mixture of fresh water would kill the fish in the 
wells. The liver of the Cod is not the least va- 
luable part of its body, because it melts almost 
entirely away into a clear oil, much used in manu- 
factures. Co,^ >y^jtM^c^>^nju ♦ ir:! ^■^■ 

There is a family of fishes familiar to us, which 
are worthy of a moment's notice, not only on ac- 
count of their importance as objects of commercial 
speculation, but for their singular and unparalleled 
deviation from the ordinary structure. These are 
the Flat-fishes {Pleuronectidod)^ comprising the Tur- 
bot, Plaice, Sole, and some others. Their form is 
YQTj deep, but at the same time very thin, and they 
are not constituted to swim as other fishes do, with 
the back uppermost, but lying upon one side. They 
reside wholly upon the bottom, shuffling along by 
waving their flattened bodies, fringed with the dorsal 
and anal fins ; and as they are somewhat sluggish in 
their movements, they need concealment from ene- 
mies. This is aiforded to them by the side which 
is uppermost being of a dusky-brown hue, undis- 
tinguishable from the mud on which they rest ; and 
so conscious are they where their safety lies, that 
when alarmed, they do not seek to escape by flight, 
like other fishes, but sink down close to the bottom, 
and lie perfectly motionless. Even the practised 



94 



THE OCEAN. 



eye of tlie turbot-fislier, with his powers sharpened 
by interest, fails to detect a fish when thus con- 
cealed ; and he is obliged to have recourse to another 
sense, tracing lines upon the mud with an iron- 
pointed pole, that the touch may discover the latent 
fish. In the structure of the head, again, there is 
,a peculiar and very remarkable provision for the 




TURBOT-BOAT OFF SCARBOROUGH. 



wants of the creature. If the eyes were placed as 
in all other animals, one on each side of the head, 
it is plain that the Flat-fishes, habitually grovelling 
in the manner described, would be deprived of the 
sight of one eye, which being always buried in the 
mud, would be quite useless. To meet this diffi- 
culty, the spine is distorted, taking, near the head, 
a sudden twist to one side ; and thus the two eyes 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 95 

are placed on iftie side which is kept uppermost, 
where both are available. The inferior side of a 
Flat-fish is always white. The Turbot is the most 
highly esteemed of this family, and perhaps of all 
our fishes, the flesh being of very delicate flavour. 
The Sole is also a valuable fish. Both of these spe- 
cies are taken chiefly by trawl-nets, but the former 
is also caught with the hook. 

The Crustaceous and Testaceous classes afford 
employment to a considerable number of our po- 
pulation, and demand our brief attention. Of the 
former, the chief species selected for food in this 
country are, the Crab, the Lobster, the Prawn, and 
the Shrimp. Both our salt and fresh waters, how- 
ever, contain multitudes of other species, some of 
which are exceedingly curious in structure and form. 
The Crustacea^ like insects, have no internal skeleton ; 
but instead of it, are encased in a jointed framework, 
resembling the plate armour of our forefathers, of 
a texture between shell and bone. The muscles 
which move the body are attached to the interior 
of this crust, as our muscles are attached to the 
bones. The body consists mainly of two parts ; 
the fore-division contains the head and chest, co- 
vered with a large single plate, and the hinder, th# 
belly covered with several smaller plates, joined by 
a tough skin, and lapping over each other. As this 
shelly covering is possessed by the animal from its 
very birth, it is natural to inquire how it can pos- 
sibly increase in size, seeing it is enclosed in an 
unyielding prison. In the Tortoises, which are 
somewhat similarly encased, the difficulty is met 



I 



96 THE OCEAN. 

by a periodica] addition to the interior surface of 
every plate a little wider in diameter than the one 
before, thus enlarging the capacity of the aggre- 
gated plates, together with the enlargement of each 
plate; and this, as I have already observed, is the 
mode by which the scales of a fish grow. But from 
the shape and size of the plates on a Crab or a 
Lobster, and especially of the great one that en- 
velops the chest, this mode of growth would not 
answer the purpose. Another contrivance is re- 
sorted to, of a character perfectly unique ; one of 
those contrivances that meet us at every turn in 
the study of Nature, and that make it so interest- 
ing and instructive, as manifesting the infinite re- 
sources of the Mighty God. When the Crustacean 
finds that from its increasing size it is bound and 
pressed by its shelly covering, it retires to some 
hole or cranny for protection, becomes sickly, and 
refuses to eat. After pining awhile, the softer 
parts separate from the inside of the crust, even 
the muscles becoming detached from the skeleton, 
and take up a much smaller bulk than before: a 
thick skin forms over this soft body, replacing the 
crust, and then the great shield of the chest is 
thrown off unbroken, and the other plates of the 
body follow. This seems plain: but it is not so 
easy to understand how the process is completed. 
Every one who has looked at a Crab's claw, knows 
that in a healthy animal it is filled with flesh, that 
the inside is capacious, but that the joints are very 
small : now, how is the animal to get its flesh freed 
from this capacious boot ? One would readily say, 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 97 

by splitting it into two portions; but on examining 
the cast-off claws, which are frequently met with, 
no split or separation can be discovered. The ques- 
tion is not yet satisfactorily solved; but I believe 
that through the wasting away of the limbs from 
sickness and fasting, they become so diminished in 
size as to be drawn even through the narrow ori- 
fices of the joints. Every part of the old shell 
being thus thrown off, antennae, eyes, jaws, and 
all, the animal fills its body with water, dilating 
all the parts to a size much exceeding that of the 
old shell, which the new skin, yet soft and flexible, 
readily permits. It is necessary that this inflation 
of the body should take place when newly freed, 
because the skin immediately begins to grow rigid, 
by lime being deposited in its substance secreted 
within the body, and rapidly takes the texture and 
consistence of the shell just rejected. The appetite 
now returns, and abundance of food soon restores 
the enlarged animal to its wonted vigour. 

The Crabs, of which there are many species, have 
the shield of the chest very large and flat, and usually 
wider than long : the plates of the belly are small, 
and folded under the body out of sight. The great 
pincers or claws have considerable muscular power, 
and are covered, especially at the extremities, with 
a shell of almost stony hardness. The Crab wields 
these formidable weapons with much dexterity, and 
if he obtains a grasp, holds his opponent with perse- 
vering tenacity, so that he is not to be despised in 
single combat. Mr, Mudie tells an amusing anec- 
dote illustrative of this habit. "We remember," 

7 I 



98 THE OCEAN. 

says he, " an instance in whicli, but for timely assist- 
ance, the corporation of a royal borough would have 
been deprived of its head, through the retentive 
clutching of a Crab. The borough alluded to is 
situated on a rocky part of the coast, where shell-fish 
are so very abundant that they are hardly regarded 
for any other purpose than as bait for the white 
fishery. The of&cial personage was a man of leisure ; 
and one favourite way of filling up that leisure was 
the capture of Crabs, which, after much care, he had 
learned to do by catching them in the holes of the 
rocks, so adroitly, as to avoid their formidable pin- 
cers. One day he had stretched himself on the top 
of a rock, and thrusting his arm into a crevice below, 
got hold of a very large Crab ; so large, indeed, that 
he was unable to get it out in the position in which 
it had been taken. Shifting his position in order to 
accommodate the posture of his prey to the size of 
the aperture, he slipped his hold of the Crab, which 
immediately made reprisals by catching him by the 
thumb, and squeezing with so much violence, that 
he roared aloud. But though there be a vulgar opi- 
nion, of course an unfounded one, that Lobsters are 
apt to cast their claws, through fear, at the sound of 
thunder or of great guns, the thundering and shout- 
ing of the corporation man had no such effect upon 
the Crab. He would gladly have left it to enjoy its 
hole; but it would not quit him, but held him as 
firmly as if he had been in a vice ; and though he 
rattled it against the rocks with all the power that 
he could exert, which, pinched as he was by the * 
thumb was not great ; yet he was unable to get out 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 99 

of its clutclies. But, ' tide waits for no man,' even 
though his thumb should be in a Crab's claw ; and so 
the flood returned, until the greater part of the arm 
was in water, and the ripple even beginning to 
mount to the top of the rock, which, as the tides 
Were high at that particular time, was speedily to 
be at least a fathom under water.; and destruction 
seemed inevitable. A townsman who had been fol- 
lowing the same fishery with an iron hook at the end 
of a stick, fortunately came in sight ; and by intro- 
ducing that, and detaching the other pincer of the 
Crab, which is one of the common means of making 
it let go its hold, he restored the official personage 
to land and life."* 

The fisherman, however, prefers another mode of 
taking Crabs, than by seeking them in their rocky 
retreats. He uses pots made of wicker-work, with 
an opening in the top, made by the ends of the rods, 
bent inwards, and converging towards a point; their 
elasticity allowing a Crab to enter readily enough, 
but causing them to spring back to their first posi- 
tion when he is in, presenting only their converged 
points when he wishes to escape ; the entrance being 
in the top of the pot, moreover, he cannot well get 
at it when once inside. Some decaying animal mat- 
ter is put in by w^ay of bait, which is an unfailing 
temptation to the Crab's palate, and the pot is sunk 
in deep water by means of a heavy stone. A line 
attached to a float on the surface of the water, marks 
the situation of each pot, and prevents mistakes as to 
property. 

«- Brit. Naturalist, i. 279. 



100 



THE OCEAN. 




Crab-pots. 



The Lobster is caught in the same manner as 
the Crab, and both are in great demand for the 
delicacy of their flesh. A very large proportion of 
those eaten in England are brought from Norway. 
At first there does not seem much in common in the 
form of these two animals, except that both are fur- 
nished "with pincers; but on examination, we shall 
find that both are constructed on the same model. 
The shield of the chest, which was broad and flat in 
the Crab, is long and arched in the Lobster ; and the 
belly, which was thin, small, and folded out of sight, 
under the body, is in the latter much larger, and 
though bent, may be extended, and is terminated by 
fringed horny plates like a fin ; the antennae^ or 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 101 

horn-like processes of the head, are very long. Thus 
we perceive, and there are many other examples 
which might be adduced, that it has pleased God 
to vary the forms of created beings, not by making 
each on a separate and independent plan, but by 
creating certain forms, which are viewed as types or 
models, and varying the parts, common to many spe- 
cies, in detail. The one mode would have been as 
easy as the other ; there can be no gradations of faci- 
lity in creation to Omnipotence ; but doubtless He 
had wise ends in view in thus proceeding, though we 
may fail, from ignorance, in discerning them. Pro- 
bably one reason may have been the formation of 
one harmonious whole out of the multitude of living 
creatures, which could not have been formed had 
every one been essentially different from all others. 
But, as it is, we see that deviations in structure and 
form are gradual, that one species varies but little 
from a certain type, another varies a little more, and 
so on; thus connecting each with each in a most 
beautiful order, something like the manner in which 
the links of a chain hang from each other, or perhaps 
still more, like an immense number of circles, so 
arranged as to touch other circles in many parts of 
their circumference. Goldsmith flippantly asserts, 
that the Shrimp and the Prawn " seem to be the 
first attempts which Nature made when she medi- 
tated the formation of the Lobster." Such expres- 
sions as these, however, are no less unphilosophical 
than they are derogatory to God's honour; these 
animals being in an equal degree perfect in their 
kind, equally formed by consummate wisdom, inca- 

i2 



102 



THE OCEAN. 



pable of improvement, each filling its own peculiar 
place in its own circle, which the others could not 
fill. 




The Shrimper. 



The Shrimp and Prawn, like the Lobster, have the 
extremity of the body furnished with broad overlap- 
ping plates, strongly fringed, which, expanding in 
the shape of a fan, constitute a powerful fin. The 
body, a little behind the middle, has a remarkable 
bend downwards, though it may be brought nearly 
straight. Their motion when swimming is very 
swift, and in a backward direction, and is performed 
by striking the water forcibly with the tail- fin, the 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 103 

body being in a bent position. The Lobster is said 
to project itself thus, by a single impulse, upwards 
of thirty feet^ and to dart through the water with 
the fleetness of a bird upon the wing. The Shrimp 
frequents the shallows, and congregates in numerous 
shoals, which leap from the surface, as I have often 
seen. The capture of them is often left to the 
children of the fishermen, who, wading in the shoal 
water, with a net fixed at the end of a pole, take 
them with much ease. 

Under the appellation of Shell-^sA are familiarly 
included animals having little connection with each 
other, and still less with fishes. The Fish, the Crab, 
and the Oyster belong, in fact, to three of the grand 
sections into which the animal kingdom is distri- 
buted; and though the last two agree in being in- 
vested with what is, in common parlance, called "a 
shell," yet the crust of the one bears no analogy in 
form, structure, or composition to the shell of the 
other. Again: those animals which, like the Oyster, 
are covered with true calcareous shells, differ greatly 
from each other: some, as the Periwinkle and the 
Whelk, being animals of much higher grade in the 
scale of development than others, as the Oyster or 
Scallop. The former crawl with ease on a broad 
fleshy disk, as we have all seen in the case of the 
garden Snail, an animal closely allied to them; they 
have a distinct head, with tentacles, jaws, and often 
with eyes; but the latter have no power of crawling, 
being, for the most part, confined to one spot, no 
head, no eyes, no tentacles, and no jaws, but are 
shut up within their two shells, which can be opened 



104 THE OCEAN. 

only to a small extent during the life of the animal. 
Yet we must not for a moment suppose that these 
creatures are unhappy, or that the meanest occupant 
even of a bivalve shell is not supplied with every- 
thing that could conduce to its welfare. It is STN 
alone that is the source of unhappiness. I will just 
point out one or two particulars in which the Divine 
care for these creatures is manifest. All of them 
have the vital parts of the body protected by a thick 
fleshy coat, somewhat projecting at the edges, called 
the mantle : the surface of this organ has the power 
of forming the shell, by depositing stony matter in 
a sort of glutinous cement, which soon hardens into 
a thin layer of shell. If a little piece were broken off 
the edge of the shell of a Whelk, when alive, the 
animal would press the surface of the mantle against 
the fracture, and pass it several times over the place ; 
a very thin transparent film would then be seen to 
fill up the space, which in the same way it would 
increase in thickness, until in a few days we could 
scarcely distinguish the renewed part from the 
other, or tell that the shell had been broken, except, 
perhaps, by a slight variation in colour. As the ani- 
mal grows, it wants a larger shell; and the mantle 
affords the means of increasing its size : the front 
edge of this organ is thicker than the rest, and is 
called the collar ; and it is by thrusting this round 
the edge of the shell, while stony matter is poured 
out from its surface, that an addition is made to it. 
In the Bivalves, or those whose shells open and shut 
like the covers of a book, as the Oyster, the mantle 
is twofold, covering the body on each side, just within 



THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. 105 

eacli shell. Instead of a collar, eacli leaf of the mantle 
is here fringed with a series of delicate fleshy threads, 
which secrete the exterior part of the shell, by being 
thrust out round the edge ; while the whole surface 
of the mantle deposits the beautiful, rainbow-tinted, 
pearly substance with which the interior is coated. 

Instead of the fleshy belly on which the Univalves 
glide along, the Bivalves are furnished with a pecu- 
liar organ, which in some species serves the purpose 
of motion. The Oyster, however,' and some other 
species, have no power of changing their position, 
but are, as it were, cemented to the rock on which 
the spawn first chanced to fall. The Mussel, again, 
is fastened, but in a different manner, being moored 
by a cable of -silken threads, which it spins from its 
own body. But the Cockle, which is eaten by the 
poor on many of our shores, is enabled to move with 
considerable rapidity by means of the organ to which 
I have just alluded. It is somewhat like a tongue, 
and can assume a great variety of shapes. The 
Cockle burrows in the mud : having lengthened and 
stiffened its tongue or foot, it pushes it as far as it 
can reach into the mud ; then bending the tip into a 
hook, it forcibly contracts it, and thus brings its 
body, shell and all, into the hole. The Kazor-shell, 
a shell common on sandy beaches, of a long narrow 
form, has this power still more remarkably deve- 
loped. 

Many of the islands which stud the sea around the 
north and west coasts of Scotland are remarkable for 
the stern grandeur of their precipitous cliffs. One 
might almost imagine that the surges of the mighty 



106 THE OCEAN. 

Atlantic, dashing against tliem for ages with un- 
broken fnrj, had undermined their solid foundations, 
and worn for themselves numerous passages, leaving 
only columnar rocks of vast height, detatched from 
one another, though of similar formation and con- 
struction. Such a rock is the Holm of Noss, appa- 
rently severed from the Isle of Koss, from which it 
is about' a hundred feet distant; but the cliffs are 
of stupendous height, and far below, in the narrow 
gorge, the raging sea boils and foams, so that the 
beholder can scarcely look downward without horror. 
But stern, necessity impels men to enterprises, from 
which the boldest would otherwise shrink : to obtain 
a scanty supply of coarse food for himself and family, 
the hardy inhabitant of the Orkneys dares even the 
terrors of the Holm of Noss. In a small boat, with 
a companion or two, he seeks the base of the cliff; 
and leaving them below, he fearlessly climbs the pre- 
cipice, and gains the summit. A thin stratum of 
earth is found on the top, into which he drives some 
strong stakes ; and having descended and performed 
the same operation on the opposite cliff, he stretches 
a rope from one to the other, and tightly fastens it. 
On this rope a sort of basket, called a cradle, is 
made to traverse, and the adventurous islander now 
commits himself to the frail car, and suspended 
between sea and sky, hauls himself backward and 
forward by means of a line. And do you ask what 
prize can tempt man to incur such fearful hazard, 
lavish of his life ? It is the eggs and young of a sea- 
bird, the fishy taste and oily smell of whose flesh 
would present little gratification to any whose senses 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. lOt 

were not made obtuse by necessity. The Gannets 
and Guillemots dwell in countless myriads on these 
naked rocks, laying their eggs and rearing their 
progeny wherever the surface presents a ledge suf- 
ficiently broad to hold them. Their immense 
numbers render them an object of importance to 
the inhabitants of these barren islands, who derive 
from them, either in a fresh state or salted and dried, 
a considerable portion of their sustenance. 

In some other situations the fowlers have recourse 
to a still more hazardous mode of procedure. The 
cliffs are sometimes twelve hundred feet in height, 
and fearfully overhanging. If it is determined to 
proceed from above, the adventurer prepares a rope, 
made either of straw or of hog's bristles, because 
these materials are less liable to be cut through by 
the sharp edge of the rock. Having fastened the 
end of the rope round his body, he is lowered down 
by a few comrades at the top to the depth of five or 
six hundred feet. He carries a large bag affixed to 
his waist, and a pole in his hand, and wears on his 
head a thick cap, as a protection against the frag- 
ments of rock which the friction of the rope per- 
petually loosens ; large masses, however, occasionally 
fall and dash him to pieces. 

Having arrived at the region of birds, he pro- 
ceeds with the utmost coolness and address ; plac- 
ing his feet against a ledge, he will occasionally 
dart many fathoms into the air, to obtain a better 
view of the crannies in which the birds are nest- 
ling, take in all the details at a glance, and again 
shoot into their haunts. He takes only the eggs 



108 



THE OCEAN. 



and young, the old birds being too tongb to be 
eaten. Caverns often occur in the perpendicular 
face of the rock, which are favourite resorts of the 
fowls; but the only access to such situations is by 
disengaging himself from the rope, and either hold- 
ing the end in his hand, while he collects his booty, 
or fastening it round some projecting corner. I 




Fowling in Orkney. 



have heard of an individual, who, either from choice 
or necessity, was accustomed to go alone on these 
expeditions; supplying the want of confederates 
above by firmly planting a stout iron bar in the 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 109 

earth, from which he lowered himself. One day, 
having found such a cavern as I have mentioned, he 
imprudently disengaged the rope from his body, and 
entered the cave with the end of it in his hand. In 
the eagerness of collecting, however, he slipped his 
hold of the rope, which immediately swung out 
several yards beyond his reach. The poor man was 
struck with horror ; no soul was within hearing, nor 
was it possible to make his voice heard in such a 
position; the edge of the cliff so projected that 
he never could be seen from the top, even if any 
one were to look for him; death seemed inevitable, 
and he felt the hopelessness of his situation. He 
remained many hours in a state bordering on stupe- 
faction ; at length he resolved to make one effort, 
which, if unsuccessful, must be fatal. Having com- 
mended himself to Grod, he rushed to the margin 
of the cave and sprang into the air, providentially 
succeeded in grasping the pendulous rope, and was 
saved. 

Sometimes it is thought preferable to make the 
attempt from below: in this case, several approach 
the base in a boat; and the most dexterous, bearing 
a line attached to his body, essays to climb, assisted 
by his comrades, who push him from below with 
a pole. When he has gained a place where he can 
^tand firmly, he draws up another with his rope, 
and then another, until all are up, except one left 
to manage the boat. They then proceed in exactly 
the same manner to gain a higher stage, the first 
climbing and then drawing up the others : and thus 
they ascend till they arrive at the level of the birds. 



110 



THE OCEAN. 



when they collect and throw down their booty to the 
boat. Sometimes the party remains several days on 
the expedition, sleeping in the crannies and caverns. 
This mode is attended with peculiar hazard ; for as 
a man often hangs suspended merely from the hands 
of a single comrade, it occasionally happens that the 
latter cannot sustain his weight, and thus lets him 
fall, or is himself drawn over the rock, and shares in 
his companion's miserable death. 




Guillemot and Gannet. 



The object of these daring adventures, which bring 
to mind the words of Shakspeare, 

''Half way down 
Hangs one that gathers samphire — dreadful trade \" 

is chiefly the Guillemot ( Uria Troile), a bird some- 



THE SHORES OP BRITAIN. 



Ill 



what like the Penguin, but with a pointed beak. 
The Gannet {Sula Bassana) is of the Pelican tribe, 
and is confined, at least in large congregations, to 
one or two localities : of which the principal are the 
Bass Eock on the east coast of Scotland, and St. 




The Bass Rock. 



Kilda, the most western of the Hebrides. On these 
rocky isles they assemble in such countless hosts 
that they can only be compared to a swarm of bees, 
or to a shower of snow, the air being filled with 
them. The inhabitants of the latter isle are said 



112 THE OCEAN. 

to consume twenty-two thousand of the young birds 
every year, besides eggs. They are powerful birds 
upon the wing, and pursue with much eagerness the 
shoals of herrings and pilchards, on which they 
pounce with the perpendicular descent of a stone. 
Buchanan conjectures that the Gannets destroy 
more than one hundred millions of herrings an- 
nually. In flying over Penzance some years since, 
a Gannet's attention was arrested by a fish lying on 
a board. According to custom, down he swooped 
on the prey ; but his imprudence cost him his life ; 
aiid it was found that from the impetus of his de- 
scent, the bill had quite transfixed the board, though 
an inch and a quarter in thickness. The fishermen 
take advantage of this habit, to allure the bird to 
its destruction; for they fix a fresh herring to a 
board, and draw it after a sailing boat with some 
rapidity through the waves; by which many are 
killed in the manner just narrated. The apparatus 
by which this bird is furnished for its aerial powers, 
as well as for aiding its arrowy descent, is very beau- 
tiful and instructive. Professor Owen, by inserting 
a tube into the windpipe, was enabled to inflate the 
whole body with air, and found that air-cells com- 
municating with each other, pervaded every part, 
separating even the muscles from each other, and 
isolating the very vessels and nerves ; and penetrat- 
ing the bones of the wing. A large air-cell was 
found to be placed in front of the forked-bone, or 
clavicles, which was furnished with muscles, whose 
action was instantaneously to expel the air, and thus 
in a moment to deprive the bird of that buoyancy, 



THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 113 

SO necessary for its flight, but equally detrimental to 
its swoop. 

In some interesting observations, by Colonel Mon- 
tagu, on tbe habits of this bird in captivity, the same 
fact is noticed. When the bird was placed on the 
water of a pond, nothing could induce him to at- 
tempt to dive, and from the manner of his putting 
the bill, and sometimes the whole head, under water, 
as if searching for fish, it appears that the prey 
is frequently so taken. It is probable more fish are 
caught in their congregated migrations, when the 
shoals are near the surface, than by their descent 
upon wing; for the herrings, pilchards, mackerel, 
and other gregarious fishes, cannot at that time avoid 
their enemy, who is floating in the midst of profu- 
sion. In the act of respiration there appears to be 
always some air propelled between the skin and the 
body of this bird, as a visible expansion and contrac- 
tion is observed about the breast ; and this singular 
conformation makes the bird so buoyant that it floats 
high on the water, and does not sink beneath the 
surface, as observed in the cormorant and shag. The 
legs are not placed so far behind as in such of the 
feathered tribe as procure their subsistence by im- 
mersion; the Gannet, consequently, has the centre 
of gravity placed more forward; and when standing, 
the body is nearly horizontal, like a goose, and not 
erect like a cormorant. 

The Gannet collects a slight heap of withered 
grass and dry sea-weeds, on which it lays and hatches 
its eggs. They perform this duty by turns, one 
foraging while the other sits. The roamer, after 

8 k2 



114 THE OCEAN. 

a predatory excursion, returns to his partner, with 
five or six herrings in his gorge; these she very 
complacently pulls out one by one, with much ad- 
dress. Marten says that they frequently rob each 
other, and that one which had pillaged a nest, artfully 
flew out towards the sea with the spoil, and returned 
again, as if it had gathered the stuff from a different 
quarter. The owner, though at a distance from his 
nest, had observed the robbery, and waited the re- 
turn of the thief, which he attacked with the utmost 
fury. ''This bloody battle," adds the narrator, 
"was fought above our heads, and proved fatal to 
the thief, who fell dead so near our boat, that our 
men took him up, and presently dressed and ate 
him." 




THE ARCTIC SEAS, 



Perhaps in few respects is the charactei' v^ iiiv> 
dern times contrasted with that of antiquity in a 
higher degree, than in that enterprising spirit which 
prompts men to penetrate distant regions, submit- 
ting to unheard-of privations, and braving new diffi- 
culties and dangers, not only from the stimulus of 
expected gain, but often from the mere love of 
knowledge, a desire of gratifying' that insatiable and 
laudable curiosity, in which all science has its origin. 
The ancient nations, bold and intelligent as they 
were, knew little of geographical research: pre- 
cluded from venturing to the north by the dread of 
frost, and to the south by the scorching heat of the 
sun, both of which their fears so magnified that they 
deemed it physically impossible for man to exist in 
either the one or the other; their expeditions, in 
peace and war, seem to have been well-nigh bounded 
by the temperate zone. Thus it happened, that up 
to the fifteenth century hardly a fourth of the habit- 
able globe was known to the polished nations of 
Europe. But then a new era commenced : the dis- 
covery of one important law, that the magnetized 
needle points always northward, gave a precision to 
navigation, and inspired a degree of confidence in 
the mariner, which soon led to highly interesting, 
and unexpected results. The torrid zone was tra- 

(115) 



116 THE OCEAN. 

versed; that terrible "Cape of Storms,"* the south- 
ern point of Africa, was doubled ; a new world was 
discovered in the western hemisphere ; and commer- 
cial enteprise led the hardy sons of western Europe 
to dare even the icy horrors of the Poles. Of these 
the Biscayans seem to have been the first, for we 
find them engaged in the northern whale fishery as 
early as the year 1576. Before the end of the six- 
teenth century, the English had engaged in the same 
enterprise, fishing first on the coast of iSTorth Ame- 
rica, and after a while in the vicinity of Spitzbergen. 
The Dutch soon followed, and other nations were not 
slow in prosecating the same lucrative employment. 
Nature in these regions wears an aspect of awful 
majesty and grandeur, unrelieved by the softer and 
gentler beauties which distinguish her in the south. 
In the islands of these seas no meadows smile 
in emerald verdure, no waving corn-fields gladden 
the heart of man with their golden undulations; 
no songs of jocund birds usher in the morning, 
nor is the evening soothed with the indefinable 
murmur of myriads of humming insects. All is 
dreary solitude; and the death-like silence that 
pervades the scene, inspires a feeling of involun- 
tary awe, as if the hardy explorer had intruded 
into a region where he ought not to be. The 
most northern land known to exist is that of the 
islands of Spitzbergen, the extreme point of which 
approaches to within ten degrees of the Pole. The 

* This was the name given to the extreme point of Africa by its dis- 
coverer, Bartholomew Diaz : but, on his return to Portugal, King John 
II. considered the discovery so auspicious, that he changed the name to 
" The Cape of Good Hope," which it still retains. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. Ht 

coast is generally lofty and precipitous, and is visible 
in clear weather at a great distance, presenting the 
peculiar features of Arctic scenery in great perfec- 
tion. The rocks rise in bold and naked grandeur, 
their summits shooting into innumerable peaks and 
ridges, and needles, of fantastic forms, reminding 
the beholder of the domes and spires of a vast city. 
Most of these are of dark colours, standing out in 
bold relief against the sky ; but their appearance is 
rendered highly picturesque by the vivid contrasts 
continually presented by the broad patches of un- 
sullied snow capping their summits, or resting on 
the ledges and terraces into which their surface is 
broken, as well as by the glistening accumulations 
of ice, which fill the valleys nearly to the level of 
the mountain tops. In approaching the coast in 
summer, the view is often concealed by the dense 
fogs so prevalent in that season : suddenly the mist 
disperses, and these broad contrasts, shown out in 
startling distinctness beneath a cloudless sun, seem 
like the sudden creation of a magician's wand. The 
well-defined outline, and sharp edge of the hues 
of the picturesque scenery, render it perfectly dis- 
tinct at a distance at which, in a more southern 
clime, land would present but a dim and shadowy 
haze. The objects described may often be clearly 
seen and well distinguished at the distance of forty 
miles ; and if, after sailing towards the land for four 
or five hours before a smart breeze, the atmosphere 
should become slightly charged with mist, the scene 
might be apparently even more distant than at first. 
Thus a phenomenon, reported by one of the earlier 



118 THE OCEAN. 

Danish navigators, wHch caused no little astonisli- 
ment, may be readily accounted for. He had made 
the eastern coast of Greenland, and had been sailing 
towards it for many hours with a fair wind ; but see- 
ing that the land seemed to be no nearer, he became 
alarmed, and immediately shifted his course back to 
Denmark, attributing the failure of his voyage to 
the influence of loadstone rocks, hidden beneath the 
sea, which arrested the progress of his vessel. 

The peculiar stratification of the rocks in these 
regions often causes them to assume a walled or cas- 
tellated appearance, the angles being as sharp and 
clean as if cut with a mason's tool. Some of their 
forms resemble so strongly the works of art, that one 
can scarcely believe them to be freaks of nature. A 
magnificent instance of such regularity occurs on the 
coast of Spitzbergen. Near the head of King's Bay, 
there are seen, far inland, three piles of rock of 
regular shape, well known to the whalers by the ap- 
pellation of the Three Crowns. " They rest on the 
top of the ordinary mountains, each commencing 
with a square table, or horizontal stratum of rock, 
on the top of which is another, of similar form and 
height, but of a smaller area ; this is continued by 
a third, and a fourth, and so on, each succeeding 
stratum being less than the next below it, until it 
forms a pyramid of steps, almost as regular to ap- 
pearance as if worked by art."* 

The most . prominent object in these dreary seas is 
ice. Even on the land, a large portion of the ground 
is concealed by perpetually-accumulating ice, while 
the same substance covers to a great extent the sur- 

* Scoresby. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 119; 

face of the ocean. There is scarcely a more beauti-; 
ful object than one of the towering icebergs that so 
abound in these regions, and that annually come 
down upon the southern current, into the temper- 
ate zone. I have seen numbers of these floating 
islands, of dazzling whiteness, on the coast of JSTew- 
foundland, whither they are brought every spring 
out of Baffin^s Bay. They do not long endure their 
transition, but soon melt away in the warm waters of 
the Atlantic, though they are sometimes seen on the 
coast of the United States, as far down as Phila- 
delphia. In watching some small ice-islands, which, 
having drifted into the ports of Newfoundland, have 
grounded in shoal water, I have been surprised to 
observe how very rapid is their dissolution, even in 
the month of April. Some large ones, however, are 
frequently seen in the bays of that country, even in 
July. They are often of vast dimensions : one seen 
by Ross, in Baffin's Bay, was estimated to be nearly 
two miles and a half long, two miles wide, and fifty 
feet high. Of course this estimate respects only that 
part which is visible above the surface of the water ; 
but this is a very small portion of its actual bulk. 
The relative proportion of the part which is exposed 
to that which is submerged, varies according to the 
character of the ice: in Newfoundland the part 
under water is usually considered to be ten times 
greater than that exposed, but if the ice be porous, 
it is not more than eight times greater ; while, on the 
other hand, Phipps found that of dense ice, fourteen 
parts out of fifteen sunk. These floating icebergs 
are various in form ; sometimes rising into pointed 



120 



THE OCEAN. 



spires, like steeples; sometimes taking the form of a 
conical hill; sometimes that of an overhanging cliff, 
of most threatening brow. I have seen some resemble 




Iceberg seen in Baffin's Bay. 

the form of a couching lion ; but, perhaps, the most 
ordinary form is that of an irregular mass, higher at 
one end than at the other. In the Arctic seas they 
often present sharp edges and spiry points; but in 
their progress southward, the gradual influence of 
climate smooths their unevenness, and gives their 
surface a rounded outline. The action of the waves 
on the portion beneath the surface, undermining the 
sides and wearing away the projections, continually 
alters the position of the centre of gravity; and 
sometimes the effect of this is to cause the whole 
gigantic mass to roll over with a thundering crash, 
making the sea to boil into foam, and causing a swell 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 121 

tliat is perceptible for miles. When a boat or even a 
sbip is in immediate proximity to an iceberg in such 
circumstances, the danger is imminent ; but if viewed 



Swell among Ice. 

from a secure distance, the sight is a very interesting 
one. The first iceberg I ever saw, and one of large 
size, thus rolled about one-third over while I beheld 
it, entirely altering its apparent form. Sometimes 
the effect of the wave's action is to cause a large 
fragment to fall off, or a crack will extend through 
the whole mass with a deafening report, or the entire 
iceberg will fall to pieces, and strew the ocean with 
the fragments, like the remnants of a wreck. Late 
in the summer they often become very brittle, and 
then a slight violence is sufficient to rupture them. 
Seamen avail themselves of the shelter afforded by 

L 



122 



THE OCEAN. 



ice-islands to moor the ship to them in storms, carry- 
ing an anchor upon the ice, and inserting the fluke 
in a hole made for the purpose. In the state just 
alluded to, such is the brittleness of the substance, 
that one blow with an axe is sometimes sufficient to 
cause the immense mass to rend asunder with fearful 
noise, one part falling one way, and another in the 
opposite, often swallowing up the ill-fated mariner, 
and crushing the gallant bark. 




Ship beset in Ice. 



Contact with floating icebergs, when a ship is 
under sail, is highly dangerous. From the coolness 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 123 

of the air in their immediate neighbourhood, the 
moisture of the atmosphere is condensed around 
them; and hence they are often enveloped in fogs, 
so as to be invisible within the length . of ' a few 
fathoms. A momentary relaxation of vigilance on 
the part of the mariner, may bring the ship's bows 
on the submerged part of an iceberg, whose sharp 
needle-like points, hard as rock, instantly pierce the 
planking, and perhaps open a fatal leak. Many 
lamentable shipwrecks have resulted from this cause. 
In the long heavy swell, so common in the open sea, 
the peril of floating ice is greatly increased, as the 
huge angular masses are rolled and ground against 
each other with a force that nothing can resist. 

These ice-islands are quite distinct in their nature 
from the field-ice, which so largely overspreads the 
surface of the sea, and are believed to be entirely of 
land formation, consisting of fresh water frozen. 
The process of their formation is interesting: the 
glens and valleys in the islands of Spitzbergen are 
filled up with solid ice, which has been accumulating 
for uncounted ages; these are the sources from 
whence the floating icebergs are supplied. Perhaps 
as long ago as the creation of man, or at least as the 
deluge, these glaciers began in the snows of winter ; 
the summer sun melted the surface of this snow, and 
the water thus produced, sinking down into that 
which remained, saturated it and increased its density. 
The ensuing winter froze this into a mass of porous 
ice, and superadded a fresh surface of snow. The 
same process again going on in summer, of water 
percolating through the porous crystals, which in its 



124 THE OCEAN. 

turn was refrozen, soon changed the lowest stratum 
into a mass of dense and transparent ice. Centuries 
of alternate winters and summers have thus produced 
aggregations of enormous bulk. Scoresby mentions 
one of eleven miles in length, and four hundred feet 
in height at the seaward edge, whence it slopes up- 
ward and backward till it attains the height of six- 
teen hundred feet ; an inclined plane of smooth 
unsullied snow, the beauty and magnitude of which 
render it a very conspicuous landmark on that inhos- 
pitable shore. The upper surface of a land iceberg is 
usually somewhat hollow, and during the summer the 
concavities are filled with pools or lakes of the purest 
water, which often wears channels for itself through 
the substance, or is precipitated in the form of a 
cataract over the edge. The water freezing in fissures 
thus produced, and expanding with irresistible force, 
tears off large fragments from the outer edge, which 
are precipitated into the ocean; and high spring 
tides, lashed by storms, undermine portions of the 
base, and produce the same effect. The masses thus 
dislodged float away, and form ice-islands. When 
newly broken, the fracture is said to present a 
glistening surface of a clear greenish blue, approach- 
ing an emerald green ; but of such as I have myself 
had an opportunity of examining in Kewfoundland, 
the hollows were of the purest azure. 

" On an excursion to one of the Seven Icebergs," 
says Mr. Scoresby, "in July, 1818, I was particu- 
larly fortunate in witnessing one of the grandest 
effects which these polar glaciers ever present. A 
strong north-westerly swell having for some hours 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 125 

been beating on the shore, had loosened a number 
of fragments attached to the iceberg, and various 
heaps of broken ice denoted recent shoots of the 
seaward edge. As we rode towards it, with a view 
of proceeding close to its base, I observed a few 
little pieces fall from the top ; and while my eye 
was fixed upon the place, an immense . column, pro- 
bably fifty feet square, and one hundred and fifty feet 
high, began to leave the parent ice at the top, and 
leaning majestically forward, with an accelerated 
velocity fell with an awful crash into the sea. The 
water into which it plunged was converted into an 
appearance of vapour or smoke, like that from a 
farious cannonading. The noise was equal to that 
of thunder, which it nearly resembled. The column 
which fell was nearly square, and in magnitude 
resembled a church. It broke into thousands of 
pieces. This circumstance was a happy caution, for 
we might inadvertently have gone to the very base 
of the icy clifP, from whence masses of considerable 
magnitude were continually breaking."^ 

" 'Tis sunset : to the firmament serene 

The Atlantic wave reflects a gorgeous scene ;; 

Broad in the cloudless west, a belt of gold 

Girds the blue hemisphere; above unroll'd. 

The keen, clear air grows palpable to sight, 

Embodied in a flush of crimson light. 

Through which the evening star, nvith milder gleam. 

Descends to meet her image in the stream. 

Far in the east, what spectacle unknown 

Allures the eye to gaze on it alone ? 

— Amidst black rocks, that lift on either hand 

Their countless peaks, and mark receding land ; 



* Arctic Regions, i. 104. 
L2 



126 THE OCEAN. 

Amidst a tortuous labyrinth of seas 

That shine around the arctic Cyclades ; 

Amidst a coast of dreariest continent, 

In many a shapeless promontory rent; 

— O'er rocks, seas, islands, promontories spread, 

The Ice-Blink rears its undulated head ; 

On which the sun, beyond th' horizon shrined. 

Hath left his richest garniture behind ; 

Piled on a hundred arches, ridge by ridge. 

O'er fixed and fluid strides the Alpine bridge, 

Whose blocks of sapphire seem to mortal eye 

Hewn from cerulean quarries of the sky ; 

With glacier battlements, that crowd the spheres. 

The slow creation of six thousand years, 

Amidst immensity in towers sublime. 

Winter's eternal palace, built by Time. 

All human structures by his touch are borne 

Down to the dust ; mountains themselves are worn 

With his light footstep ; here forever grows, 

Amid the region of unmelting snows, 

A monument; where every flake that falls 

Gives adamantine firmness to the walls. 

The sun beholds no mirror, in his race, 

That shows a brighter image of his face ; 

The stars, in their nocturnal vigils, rest 

Like signal fires on its illumined crest; 

The gliding moon around the ramparts wheels. 

And all its magic lights and shades reveals ; 

Beneath, the tide with idle fury raves 

To undermine it through a thousand caves. 

Bent from its roof though thundering fragments oft 

Plunge to the gulf, immovable aloft, 

From age to age, in air, o'er sea, on land, 

Its turrets heighten, and its piers expand."* 



By far the greatest portion of tlie ice met with 
in navigating these seas is of marine formation. 
During the greater part of the year, in high lati- 

* Montgomery's " Greenland," p. 61. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 12'7 

tudes, the process of congelation is always going 
on at the surface of the sea. If the wind is high, 
the crystals cannot readily .unite into a solid form, 
but form a spongy mass, called sludge : when this 
has become somewhat thick, however, the wind can 
no longer act upon the water, so as to raise little 
ripples upon it, and the sludge now begins "to 
catch ;" but the swell prevents one uniform surface 
being yet formed, and the consequence is, that small 
rounded plates of ice are produced, called "pan- 
cakes," the edges of which are raised slightly, by 
the constant pressure of one against another. The 
cakes in the centre of the freezing mass now begin 
to adhere to each other, and thus a solid surface 
is produced, which gradually extends both its dia- 
meter and its depth. The individual pieces of 
which such ice is composed are distinctly to be 
traced, even when perfectly consolidated, and pre- 
sent an appearance resembling pavement. But in 
calm weather, a thin pellicle of ice is simulta- 
neously produced over the whole surface of the 
sea, and the formation of the ice-field is much 
more direct and obvious. Single fields have been 
seen many leagues in length, and occupying an 
area of several hundred square miles; being at 
the same time from three to six feet high, and 
from ten to twenty deep. The waves produced 
by storms break up these fields into smaller pieces, 
called floes, and driving one against another with 
violence, the edge of one is often lifted upon the 
other by the force of the pressure, and hummocks 
or hills, of various shapes and sizes, are raised upon 



128 THE OCEAN. 

them. Ice-fields often acquire a rotatory motion ; 
and when we consider the immense weight of these 
ponderous masses, we shall have an idea of the 
irresistible impetus communicated by such a body 
in motion. Scoresby calculates one mentioned by 
him at ten thousand millions of tons : no wonder, 
that coming in contact with a vessel, her iron knees 
and oaken timbers should be crushed like a walnut, 
or that she should be lifted clean out of the water by 
the pressure, and placed high and dry upon the ice ! 
From this cause arise many of the accidents which 
give to the navigation of the Arctic sea its peculiarly- 
hazardous character. 

When the temperature of the atmosphere is about 
two or three degrees above the freezing-point, a 
surface of ice, if placed in a horizontal plane, will 
melt, not by a general dissolution of its substance, 
but so as to leave a multitude of perpendicular 
columns, or needles. In the late attempt to reach 
the Korth Pole by boats hauled over the ice, Cap- 
tain Parry found ice in this condition productive of 
no little inconvenience. At the very commencement 
of the journey we find it thus noticed : — " June 
26. — A great deal of the ice over which we passed 
to-day presented a very curious appearance and 
structure, being composed, on its upper surface, 
of numberless irregular, needle-like crystals, placed 
vertically, and nearly close together; their length 
varying, in different pieces of ice, from five to ten 
inches, and their breadth in the middle about half 
an inch, but pointed at both ends. The upper sur- 
face of ice having this structure, sometimes looks 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 129 

like greenish velvet ; a vertical section of it, which 
frequently occurs at the margin of floes, resembles, 
while it remains compact, the most beautiful satin 
spar ; and asbestos, when falling to pieces. At this 
early part of the season, this kind of ice afforded 
pretty firm footing ; but as the summer advanced 
the needles became more loose and movable, ren- 
dering it extremely fatiguing to walk over them, 
besides cutting our boots and feet — on which ac- 
count the men called them penknives."* The Cap- 
tain attributes this peculiar structure to the heavy 
drops of rain piercing their way downwards through 
the ice, and separating it into needles. 

There is no phenomenon that more forcibly brings 
before the mind of a stranger the novelty of his 
position, than the absence, on entering within the 
Arctic Circle, of that constant alternation of day 
and night, which we are accustomed to consider as 
inseparable from the constitution of our world. We 
have learned this fact in our elementary treatises on 
Geography, but yet it is difficult to realise to the 
mind a perpetual day, an unsetting sun. "When 
the sun's disk is obscured by a fog, it is no uncom- 
mon thing for sailors to ask each other if it be night 
or day : and Phipps, on his return voyage, thought 
the sight of a star an occurrence of sufficient mo- 
ment to be inserted in his journal, " August 24th. 
— We saw Jupiter: the sight of a star was now 
become almost as extraordinary a phenomenon as 
the sun at midnight, when we first got within the 
Arctic Circle," Our voyagers usually seek the 

* Narrative of an Attempt, &c., p. 61. 



130 THE OCEAN. 

Arctic Ocean in spring, and leave it at the ap- 
proach of autumn; a winter residence there being 
dreaded as one of the direst calamities that can befall 
them; and therefore, until lately, our knowledge 
of winter phenomena was very meagre, and mainly 
derived from the reports of a few unhappy men, by 
accident compelled to remain in a clime so inhos- 
pitable. By the experience of the officers and crews 
engaged in the recent voyages of discovery, we have 
become nearly as familiar with the phenomena of the 
long winter's night, as with those of the short sum- 
mer's day. In Spitz bergen the day is rather more 
than four months long: the night is of the same 
duration, and in the two months which intervene 
between the sun's constant presence and his con- 
stant absence, that luminary rises and sets as with 
us. But the appearance of the sun in spring is ac- 
celerated, and its disappearance in autumn retarded, 
a few days, by the influence of refraction; so that 
it is actually seen somewhat longer than it is in- 
visible. Thus Captain Parry, at Melville Island, 
saw the sun on the first of February, which was 
about four days earlier than its actual elevation 
above the horizon ; in like manner it remained 
visible until the 11th of November, whereas it had 
actually sunk beneath the horizon on the 7th. 
Then the darkness of the Arctic winter is not 
total and incessant; even in the depth of the 
season, at Spitzbergen, there is a faint twilight 
for six hours each day, and this is longer and 
brighter in proportion to the distance from mid- 
winter on either hand. The moon also shines in 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 



131 



those clear skies with peculiar brilliance, and is 
often visible twelve or fourteen days without set- 
ting. There is, moreover, a large proportion of 
the time, in which the Aurora Borealis illumines 




Aurora Borealis. 

The scene is in the vicinity of the Three Crowns on the Coast of . 
Spitzbergen. See p. 106. 

the heavens, and sometimes with an intensity little 
inferior to moonlight. This interesting meteor is 
occasionally seen in England, but very rarely with 
that brilliance with which it shines in the Frigid 
Zone, and in the northern parts of America. In 
Newfoundland and Canada I have seen many spe- 
cimens of the Aurora, and some splendidly coloured 
with blue, green, and red hues; sometimes the 



132 THE OCEAN. 

whole sky has been flushed with intense crimson, 
which, reflected from the snow beneath, had an 
awful, though beautiful appearance. The follow- 
ing details of one which I observed in Lower Ca- 
nada, in Eebruarj, 1837, will give a notion of the 
appearance of this meteor in its more usual state. 
"I first observed it about half-past eight o'clock: 
a long, low, irregular arch of bright yellow light 
extended from the north-east to the north-west, 
the lower edge of which was well defined ; the sky 
beneath this arch was clear, and appeared black, but 
it was only by contrast with the light, for on ex- 
amination, I could not find that it was really darker 
than the other parts of the clear sky. The upper 
edge of the arch was not defined, shooting out rays 
of light towards the zenith: one or two points in 
the arch were very brilliant, which were varying in 
their position. Over head, and towards the south, 
east, and west, flashings of light were darting from 
side to side: sometimes the sky was dark, then 
instantly lighted up with these fitful flashes, vanish- 
ing and changing as rapidly; sometimes a kind 
of crown would form around a point south of the 
zenith, consisting of short converging pencils. At 
nine o'clock, the upper and southern sky was filled 
with clouds or undefined patches of light, nearly 
stationary; the eastern part, near the" top, being 
bright crimson, which speedily spread over the upper 
part of the northern sky. A series of long converg- 
ing pencils was now arranged around a blank space 
about 15° south of the zenith, the northern and 
eastern rays blood-red, the southern and western 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 133 

pale yellow ; the redness would flasli about, as did 
the white light before, still not breaking the general 
form of the corona. In a few minutes all the red 
hue had vanished, leaving the upper sky nearly un- 
occupied. The arch also was now totally gone, and 
in its place there were only irregular patches of 
yellow light, of varying radiance. At a quarter 
past nine the upper sky was again filled with pale 
flashes: in the north were perpendicular pillars of 
light, comparatively stationary. At half-past nine 
there was no material change, and at ten all had 
assumed a very ordinary appearance, merely large 
clouds of pale light being visible."* The cause 
which produces these beautiful coruscations of light 
in high latitudes has not yet been satisfactorily 
known : it seems pretty certain that their origin is 
in general far above our atmosphere. 

Montgomery alludes to the Aurora in the folio w- 
ino^ beautiful lines : — 



** Midnight hath told his hour: the moon, yet young. 
Hangs, in the argent west, her bow unstrung; 
Larger and fairer, as her lustre fades, 
Sparkle the stars amidst the deepening shades : 
Jewels more rich than night's regalia gem 
The distant Ice-Blink's spangled diadem; 
Like a new morn from orient darkness, there 
Phosphoric splendours kindle in mid-air. 
As though from heaven's self-opening portals came 
Legions of spirits in an orb of flame, — • 
Flame that from every point an arrow sends, 
Far as the concave firmament extends : 
Spun with the tissue of a million lines, 
Glistening like gossamer the welkin shines : 



* Canadian Naturalist, p. 47. 
M 



J34 THE OCEAN. 

The constellations in their pride look pale 
Through the quick trembling brilliance of that veil 
Then suddenly converged, the meteors rush 
O'er the wide south ; one deep vermilion blush 
O'erspreads Orion glaring on the flood, 
And rabid Sirius foams through fire and blood ; 
Again the circuit of the pole they range. 
Motion and figure every moment change. 
Through all the colours of the rainbow run, 
Or blaze like wrecks of a dissolving sun ; 
Wide ether burns with glory, conflict, flight, 
And the glad ocean dances in the light."* 

This interesting meteor, occurring with more or 
less of splendour in rapid succession, added, more- 
over, to the universal reflection of what light may- 
proceed from the heavens by the pure whiteness of 
the ice and snow, tends greatly to lessen the darkness 
of the long and dreary night, though these causes 
cannot diminish the cold. The latter was so intense 
during the late expeditions of discovery, that the 
temperature was 55° below zero, or eighty-seven 
degrees below the freezing-point. 

The remarkable appearances called mock suns, or 
parhelia^ are extremely frequent within the Arctic 
Circle. Their usual appearance may be thus de- 
scribed. When the sun is not far from the horizon, 
one or more luminous circles, or halos, surround it 
at a considerable distance ; two beams of light go 
across the innermost circle, passing through the 
centre of the sun, the one horizontally, the other 
perpendicularly, so as to form a cross : where these 
beams touch the circle, the light is, as it were, con- 
centrated in a bright spot, sometimes scarcely in- 
ferior in brilliance to the sun itself ; at the corre- 

* « Greenland," p. 64. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 



135 



sponding points in the outermost circle, segments of 
other circles, wholly external, come into contact with 
it. It is not often that this meteor is seen in the 
perfection described : occasionally the circles are too 




Mock Suns. 
The scene is the coast of Barrow's Strait. 

faint to be visible; and the mock suns alone are 
seen in the usual places, and sometimes but one or 
two of them. Another singular appearance, called 
the fog- bow, of great beauty and interest, is thus 
described by Mr. Scoresby: "The intense fogs 
which prevail in the Polar Seas, at certain seasons, 
occasionally rest upon the surface of the water, and 
reach only to an inconsidefl'able height. At such 



136 THE OCEAN. 

times, tlioug"h objects situated on the water can 
scarcely be discerned at the distance of a hundred 
yards, yet the sun will be visible and effulgent. 
Under such circumstances, on the 19th July, 1813, 
being at the topmast head, I observed a beautiful 
circle of about 30° diameter, with bands of vivid 
colours depicted on the fog. The centre of the circle 
was in a line drawn from the sun through the point 
of vision, until it met the visible vapour in a situa- 
tion exactly opposite the sun. The lower part of 
the circle descended beneath my feet to the side of 
the ship ; and although it could not be a hundred feet 
from the eye, it was perfect, and the colours distinct. 
The centre of the coloured circle was distinguished 
by my own shadow, the head of which, enveloped 
by a halo, was most conspicuously portrayed. The 
halo or glory was evidently impressed on the fog, but 
the figure appeared to be a shadow on the water, the 
different parts of which became obscure in proportion 
to their remoteness from the head, so that the lower 
extremities were not perceptible. I remained a long 
time contemplating the beautiful phenomenon before 
me. Notwithstanding the sun was brilliant and 
warm, the fog was uncommonly dense beneath. The 
sea and ice, within sixty yards of the ship, could 
scarcely be distinguished. The prospect thus cir- 
cumscribed served to fix the attention more closely 
on the only interesting object in sight, whose radi- 
ance and harmony of colouring, added to the singu- 
lar appearance of my own image, were productive of 
sensations of admiration and delight."* I have 

* Arct. Reg. i. 394. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 13Y 

myself had tlie pleasure of witnessing this beautiful 
phenomenon, precisely as described above, and in 
the same circumstances : it was in the month of 
August, 1828, on the coast of Newfoundland, and 
was viewed from the shrouds of a vessel projected 
on the surface of a dense but shallow fog. Some- 
times there are several coloured circles surrounding 
each other, with a common centre. 

The cause of these appearances seems to be the 
unequal refraction of the rays of light by passing 
through media of varying density. To a similar ori- 
gin may be ascribed those distortions and repetitions 
of objects near the horizon, called looming^ which are 
occasionally witnessed even in this country, but in 
the northern seas are very frequent and amusingly 
fantastic. The ice around the horizon, either almost 
flat or varied only by slight irregularities of surface, 
will appear raised into a lofty wall, and the irrega- 
larities elevated into numberless spires or towers or 
pinnacles. Ships will have their hulls magnified into 
castles ; or the hull will be diminished to a narrow 
line, and the masts and sails drawn up to a ridiculous 
length; or some of the sails will be unduly elevated, 
while others are as unnaturally flattened. But more 
singular than this is the frequent repetition of the 
object in the sky just above it. Thus above the 
spired and turreted wall of ice will be seen on the sky 
another wall exactly corresponding to it, but upside- 
down; spire meeting spire, and tower tower. Above 
a ship will be an inverted figure of the same ship, 
as palpable and apparently as real as the true one. 
This I once saw, in two vessels in the Gulf of St. 

m2 



X38 THE OCEAN. 

Lawrence. Sometimes another image may be seen 
above the inverted one, and sometimes, but very rarely, 
even a fourth. In such cases, the third is always 
in a right position, and the fourth inverted like 







^-=^^ H ^j^ J, gm jj ^ „ njijTiiij, ^ 



Distortions of Irregular Refraction. 



the second. An image of a vessel is sometimes seen 
projected upon the sky, when nothing corresponding 
to it is visible below, the real object being far below 
the horizon. Mr. Scoresby thus saw his father's 
ship, the Fame, drawn upon the sky, and by the aid 
of a telescope could make her out so distinctly as to 
pronounce with confidence upon her identity, when, 
by comparing notes afterwards, it was found that she 
was thirty miles distant at the time, and seventeen 
miles from the extreme point of vision. Somewhat 
allied to this is the bright gleam seen by night above 
field- ice, called ice-blinJc, which is often very service- 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. I39 

able in indicating the presence of ice below the hori- 
zon ; or by the dark spots and patches in it corre- 
sponding to the openings of water, directing the 
seamen, when beset, how to reach them, when other- 
wise their existence would be unknown. 

The officers engaged in the late expeditions of dis- 
covery have remarked the impossibility of correctly 
measuring distances by the eye when traversing a 
plain of unbroken snow or ice. Sometimes in tra- 
velling, they would discern what appeared to be a 
rock or a hummock of ice of considerable magnitude, 
and at a great distance ; and having set their course 
by it, rejoicing that for some time the painful strain- 
ing of the sight in keeping the direction would be 
spared by the advantage of so conspicuous a mark, in 
a minute or two they would reach it, when it would 
turn out to be some insignificant object, scarcely 
larger than a hat. 

Some of the effects of intense cold, as witnessed 
in these northern climes, are mentioned by Mr. 
Scoresby, and are interesting, because they never 
occur in our own country. After mentioning a very 
sudden depression of the temperature, he says : — 
''This remarkable change was attended with singular 
effects. The circulation of the blood was accelerated ; 
a sense of parched dryness was excited in the nose ; 
the mouth, or rather the lips, were contracted in all 
their dimensions, as by a sphincter, and the articula- 
tion of many words was rendered difficult and imper- 
fect ; indeed, every part of the body was more or less 
stimulated or disordered by the severity of the cold. 
A piece of metal, when applied to the tongue, in- 



140 THE OCEAN. 

stantly adhered to it, and could not be removed with.- 
out its retaining a portion of the skin ; iron became 
brittle, and such as was at all of inferior quality, 
might be fractured by a blow ; brandy of English 
manufacture and wholesale strength was frozen; 
quicksilver, by a single process, might have been con- 
solidated ; the sea, in some places, was in the act of 
freezing, and in others appeared to smoke, and pro- 
duced, in the formation o^ frost-rime^ an obscurity 
greater than that of the thickest fog. The subtle, 
principle of magnetism seemed to be, in some way or 
other, influenced by the frost; for the deck-com- 
passes became sluggish, or even motionless, while a 
cabin- compass traversed with celerity. The ship be- 
came enveloped in ice; the bows, sides, and lower 
rigging were loaded; and the rudder, if not repeat- 
edly freed, would in a short time have been rendered 
immovable."* In winter, however, the tempera- 
ture being much lower, the effects of intense cold 
are more manifest. Egede observes of Disco Island 
in the month of January, " The ice and hoar-frost 
reach through the chimney to the stove's mouth, 
without being thawed by the fire in the day-time. 
Over the chimney is an arch of frost, with little 
holes, through which the smoke discharges itself. 
The doors and w^alls are as if they were plastered 
over with frost, and, which is scarcely credible, beds 
are often frozen to the bedsteads. The linen is frozen 
in the drawers. The upper eider-down bed and the 
pillows are quite stiff with frost an inch thick, from 
the breath." f Many of these results I have myself 

* Arct. Reg. i. 330. f Crantz, Hist, of Greenland. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 141 

witnessed in Newfoundland and Lower Canada, some 
of which I have alluded to elsewhere j"^ in the former 
country it is not uncommon for the vapour of a 
sleeping-room, condensed on the windows and walls, 
to take the form of thin narrow blades of ice stand- 
ing out horizontally, very closely set together ; the 
whole making a dense coating, of more than half an 
inch in thickness, of spongy frost. In the first win- 
ter spent at Melville Island by Captain Parry, an ac- 
cumulation of a similar substance was observed, that 
was really astonishing. " The Hecla was fitted with 
double windows in her stern, the interval between 
the two sashes being about two feet; and within 
these some curtains of baize had been nailed close in 
the early part of the winter. On endeavouring now 
to remove the curtains, they were found to be so 
strongly cemented to the windows by the frozen 
vapour collected between them, that it was neces- 
sary to cat them off, in order to open the. windows ; 
and from the space between the double sashes we 
removed more than twelve large luchets full of ice, 
or frozen vapour, which had accumulated in the same 
manner." f . 

The shooting out of crystals of beautiful forms, 
when vapour is deposited upon any very cold sub- 
stance, is a very pleasing phenomenon. The feather- 
Hke hoar-froast, so often seen in winter on stems and 
blades of grass, is of this character. But it is in the 
icy seas of the north that this beauty is seen in per- 
fection. For an interesting description, we have 
again recourse to Mr. Scoresby. " In the course of 

*■ Canadian Naturalist, 350. f Parry's First Voyage, 146. 



142 THE OCEAN. 

the night, the rigging of the ship was most splen- 
didly decorated with a fringe of delicate crystals. 
The general form of these was that of a feather 
having half of the vane removed. ISTear the surface 
of the ropes was first a small direct line of very 
white particles, constituting the stem or shaft of the 
feather; and from each of these fibres, in another 
plane, proceeded a short delicate range of spiculse or 
rays, discoverable only by the help of a microscope, 
with which the elegant texture and systematic con- 
struction of the feather were completed. Many of 
these crystals, possessing a perfect arrangement of 
the different parts corresponding with the shaft, 
vane, and rachis of a feather, were upwards of an 
inch in length, and three-fourths of an inch in 
breadth. Some consisted of a single flake or feather ; 
but many of them gave rise to other feathers, which 
sprang from the surface of the vane at the usual 
angle. There seemed to be no limit to the magni- 
tude of these feathers, so long as the producing 
cause continued to operate, until their weight be- 
came so great, or the action of the wind so forcible, 
that they were broken off, and fell in flakes to the 
deck of the ship."'^ 

In our own winters we are familiar enough with 
snow ; but, probably, few are aware of the exceeding 
beauty, regularity, and delicacy which mark each in- 
dividual crystal of this production. In our climate, 
indeed, the temperature during a fall of snow is 
rarely low enough for the form of the crystals to be 
perceived ; as they become slightly melted in passing 

* Arct. Reg. i. 437. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. I43 

tlirougli the air, and many crystals adhere together, 
and form the irregular aggregations called flakes of 
snow. The ordinary form is that of a six-rayed star ; 
but the rays are often furnished with minute side 
rays, like the beards of a feather, or are varied in 
almost infinite diversity. The angle, however, which 
is formed in crystalization, is invariably the same, 
namely, one of 60° ; and hence arises their symmetry. 
Frost is a powerful antiseptic; as fermentation 
will not take place in a low temperature, animal 
substances may be kept without decay for an inde- 
finite period. It is customary for the whalers to 
take out their meat unsalted, trusting to this well- 
known quality of cold. Captain Parry's crew, fast 
locked up in the ice of Melville Island, enjoyed a 
Christmas dinner of roast beef, perfectly sweet, 
which had been put on board nine months before. 
The Mammoth which was dislodged by the falling 
of a clifi* at the mouth of the river Lena, had been 
preserved from putrefaction for uncounted ages. 
And more affecting instances of this quality have 
been witnessed in the bodies of men, who, having 
died in these icy regions, had lain for years unburied 
without decay. In 1774, the uncouth form of an 
apparently- deserted ship was met with, strangely 
encumbered with ice and snow ; on boarding her, a 
solitary man was found in her cabin, his fingers 
holding the pen, while before him lay the record 
which that pen had traced, bearing date twelve years 
before. No appearance of decay was manifest, save 
that a little greenish mould had accumulated on his 
forehead. A strange awe crept over the minds of 



144 THE OCEAN. 

those wlao thus first broke in upon his loneliness : 
for twelve years had that ill-fated bark navigated, 
through sun and storm, the Polar Sea ; and, perhaps, 
unconsciously solving the problem that had so long 
baffled human skill and daring, had even crossed the 
Pole itself. 

But it is time that we turn from the consideration 
of inanimate nature and atmospheric phenomena, to 
inquire what are the living productions that cheer 
the loneliness of the Arctic mariner. Of the vegeta- 
tion of these regions we know little: the dreary 
level shores of many of the isles are marshy, and 
densely clothed with various mosses, which, though 
frozen in winter, revive in the transient summer. 
The rocks, too, are covered with lichens of various 
colours ; and a few dwarf flowering plants just rise 
above the thin soil. Nothing like a tree varies the 
scene, but large trunks of trees are brought, by the 
currents, from distant regions, and washed upon the 
sea beach. Some of the Fuci which are common 
with us are found also on these shores, and doubt- 
less many other species which are unknown to us. 

The most notorious of the inhabitants of these 
dreary seas are the mighty and gigantic Whales. 
"There is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to 
play therein." It is in pursuit of these immense 
creatures, and especially the Greenland species, the 
"right Whale" of the seamen {Baloena mysticetus\ 
that many ships, well-manned and fitted out at great 
expense, proceed every year from England, Holland, 
France, and other nations, into the Arctic zone. This 
valuable animal has produced to Britain 700,000Z. in 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 145 

a single year, and one cargo has been known to yield 
11,000^. It is, therefore, well worth our considera- 
tion, and the more particularly, because in its struc- 
ture and habits there are more than ordinary evi- 
dences of that gracious forethought and contrivance, 
the tracing of which makes the study of nature so 
instructive. The Greenland Whale has no affinity 
with fishes ; it is as much a mammal as the ox or the 
elephant, having warm blood, breathing air, bringing 
forth living young, and suckling them with true 
milk. It inhabits the Polar Seas, beyond which 
there is no satisfactory proof that it has ever been 
seen. Its length is from fifty to sixty feet, when 
full grown; perhaps, in extremely rare cases, seventy, 
feet; all statements giving it a greater length than 
this, either refer to other species, such as the great 
Eorqual, or are gross exaggerations. The form is 
rather clumsy, the head being very large, and the 
mouth reaching to scarcely less than a fourth of the 
total length of the animal. The gullet is so small as 
not to admit the passage of a fish so large as a her- 
ring ; hence its support is derived from creatures of 
very small bulk, and apparently insignificant, such 
as shrimps, sea slugs, sea blubbers, and animalcules 
still smaller^ which I will presently notice. But 
how does it secure its minute and almost invisible 
prey ? for without some express provision, these 
atoms would be quite lost in the cavity of its 
capacious mouth, unless swallowed promiscuously, 
with the water, which would fill the stomach be- 
fore a hundredth part of the meal was obtained. 
There is a very peculiar contrivance to meet this 

10 N 



146 THE OCEAN. 

exigency; the mouth has no teeth, but from each 
upper jaw proceed more than three hundred horny 
plates, set parallel to each other, and very close; 
they run perpendicularly downwards, are fringed on 
the inner edge with hair, and diminish in size from 
the central plate to the first and last, the central one 
being about twelve feet long. The plates are com- 
monly called vjlialehone^ and their substance is well 
known to everybody; they form an important object 
of the fishery. The lower jaw is very deep, like a 
vast spoon, and receives these depending plates, the 
u.se of which is this : when the Whale feeds, he swims 
rapidly just under or at the surface, with his mouth 
wide open; the water with all its contents rushes 
into the immense cavity, and filters out at the sides 
between the plates of the whalebone, which are so 
close, and so finely fringed, that every particle of 
solid matter is retained. 

Though the Whale, like all other Mammalm^ is 
formed for breathing air alone, and is therefore ne- 
cessitated to come to the surface of the sea at certain 
intervals, yet those intervals are occasionally of great 
length. We well know that we could not intermit 
the process of breathing for a single minute without 
great inconvenience, and the lapse of only a few mi- 
nutes would be followed by insensibility and perhaps 
death. The Whale, however, can remain an hour 
under water, or, in an emergency, even nearly two 
hours, though it ordinarily comes up to breathe at 
intervals of eight or ten minutes, except when feeding,^ 
when it is sometimes a quarter of an hour, or twenty 
minutes submerged. Now the object of breathing 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 14Y 

is to renew tlie vital qualities of the blood by 
presenting it to the air, the oxygen in which uniting 
with the blood renders it again fit for sustaining 
life. But if more blood could be oxygenized at once 
than is wanted for immediate use, and the overplus 
deposited in a reservoir until wanted, respiration 
could be dispensed with for a while. This is actually 
what the wisdom of God has contrived in the Whale. 
The exhausted blood, which is returned by the veins, 
having been renewed by its communication with the 
air in the lungs, is carried to the heart, whence only 
a part is carried away into the system, the remainder 
being received into a great irregular reservoir, con- 
sisting of a complicated series of arteries, which first 
lines a large portion of the interior of the chest, then 
insinuating itself between the ribs, forms a large 
cushion outside of them near the spine, and also 
within the spinal tube, and even within the skull. 
The blood thus reserved is poured into the system 
as it is needed, and thus prevents the necessity of 
frequent access to the surface. 

It is an object of importance that the act of breath- 
ing should be performed with as little effort as possible, 
and therefore the windpipe is made to terminate 
not in the mouth, nor in nostrils placed at the 
extremity of the muzzle. If this were the case it 
would require a large portion of the head and body to 
be projected from the water, or else that the animal 
should throw itself into a perpendicular position; 
either of which alternatives would be inconvenient 
when swimming rapidly, as, for example, endeavouring 
to escape when harpooned. The windpipe, there- 



148 THE OCEAN. 

fore, communicates with the air at the very top of 
the head, which, by a peculiar rising or hump at that 
part, is the very highest part of the animal when 
horizontal, so that it can breathe when none of its body 
is exposed except the very orifice itself. The "Whale 
often begins to breathe when a little below the sur- 
face, and then the force with which the air is expired 
blows up the water lying above in a jet or stream, 
which with the condensed moisture of the breath 
itself constitutes what are called " the spoutings," 
and which are attended with a rushing noise that may 
be heard upwards of a mile. Some naturalists have 
maintained that a stream of water is ejected from the 
blow-hole in the form of an united column, mounting 
high before it falls again in a shower. But from my 
own observation on many individuals (seen in the 
Atlantic), I incline to the former conclusion; as I 
have invariably seen the ejected matter, instead of 
forming a column, and falling in a shower, sail away 
upon the breeze like a little white cloud. These 
were, I suppose, Eorquals: but what is true of one 
species, is probably true of all. There are one or 
two other beautiful cuntrivances connected with the 
structure of this air-passage, that are well worth no- 
ticing. In the agony and terror caused by the blow 
of the harpoon, the Whale usually plunges directly 
downward into the depths of the sea, and that with 
such force that the mouth has been found on return- 
ing to the surface, covered with the mud of the bot- 
tom; while in some instances the jaws, and in others 
the skull, have been fractured by the violence with 
which they have struck the ground. A Whale has 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 149 

been known to descend perpendicularly to the depth 
of a mile, as measured by the length of line "run 
out;" where the pressure of the immense body of 
water above would be equal to a ton upon every 
square inch. And Mr. Scoresby mentions a case in 
which a boat that was accidentally entangled was 
carried down by the Whale, which was presently 
captured, and the boat recovered by being drawn up 
with the line; but from the intense pressure, the 
water had been forced into the pores of the solid 
oak, so that it was completely saturated, and sunk 
like lead : the paint came off in large sheets, and the 
wood thrown aside to be used as fuel, was found to 
be useless, for it would not burn. A piece of the 
lightest fir- wood, which was in the boat, came up in 
exactly the same soaked condition, having totally 
lost the power of floating. To resist such a pressure 
as this, the blow-holes of the Whale tribe are closed 
with a valve-like stopper of great density and elasti- 
city, somewhat resembling India-rubber, which, ac- 
curately fitting the orifice, excludes all water from 
the windpipe, becoming more tightly inserted in 
proportion to the pressure. 

But this precaution would be vain, if the structure 
of the interior of the mouth were the same as in 
other Mammalia. Usually the windpipe and gullet 
open into a hollow at the back of the mouth, and 
the passage to the nostrils proceeds from it likewise. 
The windpipe passes up in front of the gullet, and 
the food which passes over the former is prevented 
from entering it by a lid or valve, which shuts down 
during the act of swallowing, but at other times is 

n2 



150 THE OCEAN. 

erect. But if sucli were the construction in the 
Whale, the force with which the water rushes into 
the mouth would inevitably carry a large portion of 
the fluid down upon the lungs, and the animal would 
be suffocated. The windpipe is therefore carried 
tipward in a conical form, with the aperture upon 
the top, and this projecting cone is received into the 
lower end of the blowing-tube, which tightly grasps 
it ; and thus the communication between the lungs 
and the air is effected by a continuous tube, which 
crosses the orifice of the gullet, leaving a space on 
each side for the passage of the food. 

It is doubtless to give increased power of resist- 
ance to the eye of the Whale in the pressure of 
enormous depths, that there is a peculiar thickness 
in the sclerotic coat. This is the part which in man 
is usually called the white of the eye. "When we 
make a section of the whole eye, cutting through the 
cornea^ the sclerotic coat, which is as dense as tanned 
leather, increases in thickness towards the back part, 
and is full five times the thickness behind that it is 
at the anterior part. The fore part of the eye sus- 
tains the pressure from without, and requires no ad- 
ditional support ; but were the back part to yield, 
the globe would then be distended in that direction, 
and the whole interior of the eye consequently suffer 
derangement. We see, then, the necessity of the 
coats being thus remarkably thickened behind."* 

Another no less interesting deviation from ordinary 
structure is found in the skin; the object still being 
defence against external pressure. Every one is pro- 

•* Paley's Nat. TheoL, Bell and Brougham's edit. p. 40. 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 151 

bably aware that the body of the Whale is encased in 
a thick coat of fat, denominated blubber, varying in 
diameter from eight inches to nearly two feet in dif- 
ferent parts of the animal. It has, however, been only 
recently known that this fat lies not under the skin, 
but actually in its substance. I shall describe this in 
the words of Professor Jacob, who first made known 
this interesting peculiarity : — " That structure in 
which the oil is deposited, denominated blubber, is 
the true skin of the animal, modified certainly for 
the purpose of holding this fluid oil, but still being 
the true skin. Upon close examination it is found 
to consist of an interlacement of fibres, crossing each 
other in every direction, as in common skin, but more 
open in texture, to leave room for the oil. Taking 
the hog as an example of an animal covered with an 
external layer of fat, we find that we can raise the 
true skin without any difficulty, leaving a thick layer 
of cellular membrane, loaded with fat, of the same 
nature as that in the other parts of the body ; on the 
contrary, in the Whale it is altogether impossible to 
raise any layer of skin distinct from the rest of the 
blubber, however thick it may be; and, m flensing a 
Whale, the operator removes this blubber or skin 
from the muscular parts beneath, merely dividing 
with his spade the connecting cellular membrane."* 
Such a structure as this, being firm and elastic in the 
highest degree, operates like so much India-rubber, 
possessing a density and power of resistance which in- 
creases with the pressure. But this thick coating of 
fat subserves other important uses. An inhabitant 

* Dublin PliiloSo Journ. i. 356. 



152 THE OCEAN. 

of seas where tlie cold is most intense, yet warm^ 
blooded, and dependent for existence on keeping up 
the animal heat, the Whale is furnished in this thick 
wrapper with a substance which resists the abstrac- 
tion of heat from the body as fast as it is generated, 
and thus is kept comfortably warm in the fiercest 
polar winters. Again, the oil contained in the cells 
of the skin being specifically lighter than water, adds 
to the buoyancy of the animal, and thus saves much 
muscular exertion in swimming horizontally and in 
rising to the surface ; the bones, being of a porous or 
spongy texture, have a similar influence. 

These few particulars in the physiology of these 
vast creatures may serve to carry our minds up in 
adoring wonder to the mercy as well as wisdom of 
the Lord God Almighty, and may give us a glimpse 
of the meaning of that glorious truth, "And God 
saw everything that He had made, and behold it 
was VERY GOOD." Many other instances of beau- 
tiful contrivance and design might easily be added, 
in the construction of the mouth, the eyes, the fins, 
the tail ; but all would lead us to the same result : 
and these which I have adduced may be taken as 
a sample of the rich feast which the study of nature 
affords to the Christian student. 

The capture of these immense animals, from their 
vast strength, the fickle element on which it is pur- 
sued, and the horrors peculiar to the Arctic regions, 
is an adventure of extraordinary hazard. The ships, 
built for the purpose, and strengthened with much 
oak and iron, leave the northern parts of this country 
early in April, and by the end of the month 



THE AKCTIC SEAS. 158 

usually reach tlie scene of their enterprise. Arrived 
within the limits of constant day, an unceasing watch 
is kept for Whales, by an officer stationed in a snug 
sort of pulpit, called the crow^s-nest, made of hoops 
and canvas, and well secured at the main-topmast 
head. The boats, which combine strength and light- 
ness, are always kept hanging over the sides and 
quarters of the ship, ready furnished for pursuit, so 
that on the appearance of a Whale being announced 
from aloft, one or more boats can be despatched in 
less than a minute. Each boat carries a harpooner, 
whose station is in the bow, a steersman, and several 
rowers. In an open space in the bow of the boat 
is placed a line sometimes more than 4000 feet in 
length, coiled up with beautiful regularity and scru- 
pulous care. The end of this is fastened to the 
harpoon, a most important weapon, made of the 
toughest iron, somewhat in the form of an anchor, 
but brought to an edge and point. Instead of steel 
being employed, as is commonly supposed, the very 
softest iron is chosen for this important implement, 
so that it may be scraped to an edge with a knife. A 
long staff is affixed to the harpoon, by which it is 
wielded. The boat is swiftly, but silently, rowed up 
to the unconscious Whale, and when within a few 
yards, the harpooner darts his weapon into its body. 
Smarting and surprised, the animal darts away into 
the depth of the ocean, but carries the harpoon 
sticking fast by the barbs, while the coiled line 
runs out with amazing velocity. A sheeve or pulley 
is provided, over which it passes ; but if by accident 
it slips out of its place, the friction is so great that 



154 THE OCEAN. 

the bow of the boat is speedily enveloped in smoke, 
and instances are not unfrequent of the gunwale 
even bursting into a flame, or even of the head of the 
boat being actually sawn off by the line. To prevent 
this, a bucket of water is always kept at hand, to 
allay the friction. Accidents even still more tragic 
sometimes occur from entanglements of the line. 
"A sailor belonging to the John of Greenock, in 
1818, happening to slip into a coil of running rope, 
had his foot entirely cut off, and was obliged to have 
the lower part of the leg amputated. A harpooner 
belonging to the Hamilton, when engaged in lancing 
a Whale, incautiously cast a little line under his foot. 
The pain of the lance induced the Whale to dart sud- 
denly downwards ; his line began to run out from 
under his feet, and in an instant caught him by a 
turn round the body. He had just time to call out, 
'Clear away the line. — Oh dear!' when he was 
almost cut asunder^ dragged overboard, and never 
seen afterwards." Many such-like anecdotes are on 
record. 

When a boat is " fast" to the Whale, a little flag 
is instantly hoisted in the stern as a signal to the 
ship, and other boats are at once despatched to its 
assistance. Sometimes, before their help can arrive, 
the united lines of the boats first sent are all ran 
out, in which case the men are obliged to cut the 
line, and lose it with the Whale, or the boat would 
be dragged under water. But generally some of the 
free boats can approach sufficiently near the animal 
on his return to the surface, to dart another harpoon 
into his body; perhaps he again dives, but returns 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 155 

much exhausted. The men now thrust into his body 
long and slender steel lances, and aiming at the vitals 
these wounds soon prove fatal: blood mixed with 
water is discharged from the blow;holes, and pre- 
sently streams of blood alone are ejected, which 
frequently drench the boats and men, and colour 
the sea far around. Sometimes the last agony of the 
victim is marked by convulsive motions with the tail, 
attended with imminent danger; but at other times, 
it yields its life quietly, turning gently over on its 
side. The flags are now struck, three hearty cheers 
resound, and the unwieldy prey is towed in triumph 
to the ship. 

So huge a mass, of course, is slowly moved 
through the water, but there are few operations 
that are more joyously performed; it is like the 
harvest-home of the farmer. When arrived, it is 
secured alongside the ship, and somewhat stretched 
by tackles at the head and tail, and the process of 
flensing commences. The men having shoes armed 
with long iron spikes to maintain their footing, get 
down, on the huge and slippery carcass, and with 
very long knives and sharp spades make parallel cuts 
through the blubber, from the head to the tail. A 
band of fat, however, is left around the neck, called 
the hent^ to which hooks and ropes are attached for 
the purpose of shifting round the carcass. The long 
parallel strips are divided across into portions weigh- 
ing about half a ton each, and being separated from 
the flesh beneath, are hoisted on board, chopped into 
pieces, and put into casks. When the whalebone 
is exposed, it is detached by spades, &c., made for the 



156 THE OCEAN. 

purpose, and hoisted on deck in a mass ; it is then 
split into junks, containing eight or ten blades each. 
Sometimes the jaws are taken out, and being fixed in 
a perpendicular position on deck, with the extremi- 
ties in vessels, a considerable quantity of oil gradu- 
ally drains from them. The carcass is then cut away 
as valueless to man, though a valuable prize to bears, 
birds, and sharks. Sometimes the carcass sinks im- 
mediately. Mr. Scoresby mentions a case in which 
it had been cut adrift prematurely, one of the men 
being still upon it; it began to sink, but unfortu- 
nately a hook in his boot had a firm hold of the 
flesh; he convulsively grasped the side of the boat 
in which his comrades were, and the whole immense 
weight was suspended by his foot. The torture was 
extreme; it was expected every instant that his foot 
would be rent off, or that his body would be torn 
asunder; but presently, by the merciful interposi- 
tion of God, one of his companions contrived to hook 
a grapnel into the carcass, and it was drawn suffi- 
ciently near the surface for him to be extricated. 

The Whale to which the preceding notices refer, 
is by no means the largest of the tribe, as the Great 
Korqual {Balmnoptera hoops) sometimes attains 
nearly double the length of the former. Two spe- 
cimens have been measured of the length of one 
hundred and five feet, and Sir A. de Capell Brooke 
asserts, that it is occasionally seen of the enormous 
dimensions of a hundred and twenty feet The 
Eorqual inhabits the same seas as the " right" 
Whale, but is not usually seen in company with 
it ; they seem rather to avoid each other. The 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 157 

thinness of its blabber, and the shortness of its 
whalebone, render it of far less value than the other 
species; besides which, its swiftness, strength, and 
determination, render it a hazardous enemy to en- 
counter. Hence it is usually avoided by the whalers, 
though the adventurous inhabitants of the Arctic 
shores of Europe do not hesitate to attack it. It 
is worthy of our notice, however, on account of its 
affording an instance of what has been called, in 
an examination of the care of Almighty God over 
his inferior creatures, the principle of compensation. 
When any organ, or set of organs that answer pur- 
poses very important in the economy of an animal, 
are removed in a kindred species with similar habits, 
or are so modified as no longer to serve the same 
purpose, some new structure is bestowed upon it^ 
to supply the lack of that which is removed. We 
have seen how the Whale feeds, by receiving into its 
mouth a large quantity of water, which is filtered 
through the whalebone. In order to this, the mouth 
is made very capacious by the bowing over of the 
upper jaws in the form of a high arch, the blades of 
whalebone filling up the bow. But i.n the Eorqual 
the two jaws are nearly straight, and the blades vary 
little in length, so that thus far the cavity of the 
mouth is inconsiderable. Here comes in the com- 
pensation : the lower part of the mouth (or, exter- 
nally, the chin and throat), instead of being stretched 
tightly across the branches of the lower jaw, are 
wrinkled up into many longitudinal folds, v/hich, 
when the water rushes into the mouth, expand and 
make a capacious pouch or bag. On shutting the 





158 THE OCEAN. 

moutli and contracting the muscles of the throat, the 
flesh is pursed up again into folds, and the water is 
driven, as in the former case, through the whalebone, 
which secures the food. 

The Whales, gigantic as they are, yet having little 
power of offence, find to their cost, in common 
with nobler creatures, that harmlessness is often no 
resource against violence. Several species of the 
voracious Sharks make the Whale the object of 
their peculiar attacks; the Arctic Shark {Scymnus 
horealis) is said, with its serrated teeth, to scoop out 
hemispherical pieces of flesh from the Whale's body 
as big as a man's head, and to proceed without mercy 
until its appetite is satiated. Another Shark, often 
called the Thresher {Carcharias vulpes\ which is 
sometimes upwards of twelve feet long, is said to 
use its muscular tail, that is nearly half its whole 
length, to inflict terrible slaps on the Whale; though 
one would be apt to imagine that if this whipping 
were all, the huge creature would be more fright- 
ened than hurt. The Sword-fish {XipMas gladius\ 
however, in the long and bony spear that projects 
from its snout, seems to be furnished with a weapon 
which may reasonably alarm even the leviathan of 
the deep, especially as the will to use his sword, if 
we may believe eye-witnesses, is in nowise deficient. 
The late Captain Crow records an incident of this 
kind with much circumstantiality : " One morning," 
he observes, "during a calm, when near the He- 
brides, all hands were called up at 8 A.M. to witness 
a battle between several of the fish, called Threshers, 
or Fox Sharks, and some Sword-fish, on one side, 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. Ig]^ 

and an enormous Whale on the other. It was in the 
middle of summer, and the weather being clear, and 
the fish close to the vessel, we had a fine opportunity 
of witnessing the combat. As soon as the Whale's 
back appeared above the water, the Threshers, 
springing several yards into the air, descended with 
great violence upon the object of their rancour, and 
inflicted upon him the most severe slaps with their 
long tails, the sound of which resembled the reports 
of muskets fired at a distance. The Sword-fish, in 
their turn, attacked the distressed Whale, stabbing 
from below ; and thus beset on all sides and wounded, 
when the poor creature appeared, the water around 
him was dyed with blood. In this manner they 
continued tormenting and wounding him for many 
hours, until we lost sight of him; and I have no 
doubt they, in the end, completed his destruction."* 
Some discredit has been thrown on this and similar 
accounts, on the ground that the fishes could have no 
object in persecuting the Whale ; but the circum- 
stance is not more extraordinary than the well- 
known custom which little birds have of surround- 
ing and teasing, or "mobbing," as it is called, 
any large bird to which they are unaccustomed. It 
has been objected, that the Captain describes the 
proceedings of the Sword-fish from below, when, 
from the reflection of the surface, he could not pos- 
sibly see them. But, on the contrary, the incident 
is said to have occurred " close to the vessel ;" and 
any one who has been at sea knows that in a calm, 
by going aloft, you can see to a great depth in the 

«- Memoirs of Capt. H. Crow, p. 11. 
11 o2 



162 THE OCEAN. 

water. The habit here attributed to the Sword-fish 
is confirmed by the frequency with which ships are 
struck with great violence, most museums possessing 
fragments of the planking of ships in which the 
"sword" of this finny tyrant is imbedded. It is 
with reason supposed that the dark and bulky hull 
is by the fish mistaken for the body of a Whale. 
The only resource which this gigantic animal has 
for getting rid of his troublesome foes, is said to 
be by diving to unfathomable depths, where their 
structure could not for an instant sustain the enor- 
mous pressure. 

Another animal has been accused of joining in 
these assaults, I suppose from having been con- 
founded with the Sword-fish. It is the Narwhal, 
or Sea Unicorn {Monodon monoceros\ a very dif- 
ferent creature ; in fact, being a first-cousin of the 
Whale himself. This interesting animal, the beauty 
of the northern seas, must be acquitted of this 
charge, being as inoffensive as his great relative. 
It is a very singular creature, formed in many re- 
spects like the Whale, but much more graceful. 
The colour is grey above, and pure white beneath, 
the whole spotted or mottled with a blackish hue. 
From the head projects a long straight horn of solid 
ivory, in the same line as the body ; sometimes, but 
rarely, there are two. The structure and origin of 
this horn (which has given much celebrity to this 
handsome creature) are very peculiar. It is, in fact, 
the tooth, and the only one it possesses in general; 
the fellow- tooth, however, exists within the bone of 
the jaw, but undeveloped, lying shut up like the 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 



163 







^^yr:::<W"^ 



SPEARINa THE NaRWHAL. 

kernel of a nut. It is usually the left tootli tliat 
projects. Considerable uncertainty exists about the 
use of this long and spiral tusk. Some have sup- 
posed that it is used to search for food, by raking 
in the mud at the bottom, or to pierce thin ice at 
the surface, to obtain access to the air; but Mr. 
Scoresby appears to have thrown considerable light 
upon it, by having met with an individual in whose 
stomach, among the remains of other fishes, was 
found a skate, almost entire, which was two feet 
three inches long, and one foot eight inches wide. 
"Now it appears remarkable," observes this gentle-- 



I 



164 THE OCEAN. 

man, "that the Narwhal, an animal without teeth, 
a small mouth, and with stiff lips, should be able 
to catch and swallow so large a fish as a skate, 
the breadth of which is nearly three times as great 
as the width of its own mouth. It seems probable 
that the skates had been pierced with the horn^ and 
killed before they were devoured; otherwise it is 
difficult to imagine how the Narwhal could have 
swallowed them, or how a fish of any activity would 
have permitted itself to be taken, and sucked down 
the throat of a smooth-mouthed animal, without 
teeth to detain and compress it." 

We know but little of the true fishes that inhabit 
the Arctic Seas. It appears, however, that many of the 
more important of those which are common with us, 
are common also there; not the subjects of an annual 
migration, but widely distributed at all times. On 
the authority of a French naval officer, it would even 
seem that some species at least may undergo a sort 
of torpidity. " Admiral Pleville Lepley, who had 
had his home on the ocean for half a century, as- 
sured M. Lacepede that in Greenland, in the smaller 
bays surrounded with rock, so common on this coast, 
where the water is always calm, and the bottom 
generally soft mud and juice, he had seen in the 
beginning of spring myriads of Mackerel, with their 
heads sunk some inches in the mud, their tails ele- 
vated vertically above its level ; and that the mass 
of fish was such, that at a distance it might be taken 
for a reef of rocks. The Admiral supposed that the 
Mackerel had passed the winter torpid, under the ice 
and snow, and added that, for fifteen or twenty days 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 165 

after their arrival, these fishes were affected with a 
kind of blindness, and that then many were taken 
with the net ; but as they recovered their sight the 
nets would not answer, and hooks and lines were 
used."* In illustration of the great depth to which 
the eye can penetrate in these seas, from the trans- 
parency of the water, Captain Wood, who visited 
Spitzbergen in 1676, observed that, at the depth of 
four hundred and eighty feet, the shells on the bot- 
tom were distinctly visible. 

The minute animals which constitute the food 
of the Whales, form a very interesting subject of 
contemplation. If any of my young readers have 
ever been upon the sea, though only in a boat, a 
few miles from the shore, they cannot fail to have 
observed floating in the water some round masses of 
transparent substance, like clear jelly, which alter- 
nately contract and dilate their bodies, or sometimes 
turn themselves, as it were, partly inside out. They 
are of various sizes, from that of a large plate to a 
microscopical minuteness; and some are set with 
rings, within each other, like eyes, and some are 
curiously fringed at the edge. These Medusce^ or 
Sea-blubbers, as they are familiarly called, form a 
considerable portion of the Whale's food, many 
species of them being abundant in its haunts. An- 
other little animal occurs there in immense hosts, the 
Clio horealisj which bears some slight resemblance 
to a butterfly just emerged from the chrysalis, before 
the wings are expanded. JSTear the head there is 
on each side a large fin or wing, by the motions of 

* Edin. Journal of Science. 



I 



THE OCEAN. 



which it changes its place„ These motions are 
amusing; and as the little creatures are so abundant, 




Food op the Whale : 
1, Limacina Jielicina ; 2, 3, 4, Medusce ; 5, Clio horealis. 

they make the dreary sea quite alive with their gam- 
bols as they dance merrily along. In swimming, the 
Clio brings the tips of its fins almost into contact, 
first on one side, then on the other : in calm weather 
they rise to the surface in myriads, for the purpose of 
breathing, but scarcely have they reached it before 
they again descend into the deep. Mr. Scoresby 
kept several of them alive in a glass of sea- water for 
about a month, when they gradually wasted away 
and died. The head of one of these little creatures 
exhibits a most astonishing display of the wisdom of 
God in creation. Around the mouth are placed six 
tentacles, each of which is covered with about three 
thousand red specks, which are seen by the micro- 
scope to be transparent cylinders, each containing 
about twenty little suckers, capable of being thrust 
out, and adapted for seizing and holding their minute 
prey. "Thus, therefore, there will be three hundred 



THE ARCTIC SEAS. 16Y 

and sixty thousand of these microscopic suckers 
upon the head of one Clio; an apparatus for pre- 
hension perhaps unequalled in the creation." 

Numerous as are the hosts of these frolicsome 
little beings, there are, however, others which vastly 
exceed them in number; which pass, indeed, beyond 
the possibility of human computation. Navigators 
had often noticed, in certain parts of the Arctic Sea, 
that the water, instead of retaining its usual trans- 
parency, was densely opaque, and that its hue was 
grass-green, or sometimes olive-green. It is com- 
monly known as the "green- water," and though 
liable to slight shiftings from the force of currents, is 
pretty constant in its position, occupying about one- 
fourth of the whole Greenland sea. Mr. Scoresby 
was the first who ascertained the cause of this pecu- 
liar hue: on examination he found that the water 
was densely filled with very minute Medusae,^ for the 
most part undistinguishable without a microscope. 
He computes that within the compass of two square 
miles, supposing these animalcules to extend to the 
depth of two hundred and fifty fathoms, there would 
be congregated a number which eighty thousand 
persons, counting incessantly from the Creation un- 
til now, would not have enumerated, though they 
worked at the rate of a million per week! And 
when we consider that the area occupied by this 
green water in the Greenland seas is not less than 
twenty thousand square miles, what a vast idea does 
it give us of the profusion of animal life, and of the 
beneficence of Him who "openeth His hand, and 
satisfieth the desire of every living thing !" 



les THE OCEAN. 

Several species of minute Crabs and Shrimps 
occur also in great numbers, and constitute no small 
portion of tbe food of the Whale. One little crea- 
ture, in particular {Cancer nugax\ was found to 
swarm even beneath the ice, in the temporary so- 
journ of the discovery expeditions in winter quar- 
ters. The men had often noticed the shrinking of 
their salt meat which had been put to soak; and 
a goose that had been frozen, on being immersed to 
thaw, was, in the lapse of forty-eight hours, reduced 
to a perfect skeleton. The officers afterwards availed 
themselves of the services of these industrious little 
anatomists, to obtain cleaned skeletons of such small 
animals as they procured, merely taking the pre- 
caution of tying the specimen in a loose bag of 
gauze or netting, for the preservation of any of the 
smaller bones that might be separated by the con- 
sumption of the ligaments. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAK 



The Atlantic is much better known to us than 
any other of the great divisions of the Ocean, be- 
cause, washing the shores of the principal commerical 
nations, it has been more traversed and explored. 
Its edges, on each side, are, in a greater degree than 
those of any other, hollowed into bays and harbours, 
and it is connected with the chief inland seas, such 
as the Baltic, Mediterranean, and Black Seas, on the 
one hand, and the Gulf of Mexico, and the Bays, 
or, rather Seas, of Hudson and Baffin, on the other. 
If, then, the importance of an Ocean is estimated by 
the length of the line of coast which borders it, the 
Atlantic takes precedency of all, exceeding even the 
Pacific in this respect, in the proportion of about 
four to three. It is remarkable, that it is the north- 
ern half which has so winding a coast, and to which, 
also, are confined the inland seas : and it is this part 
that is bordered with nations celebrated for naviga- 
tion and commerce, the maritime nations of Europe 
and the United States. Unlike the Pacific, whose 
vast solitudes are rarely broken by the presence of 
a ship, the Atlantic is continually ploughed by the 
keels, and spangled with the banners, of powerful 
empires, conveying from shore to shore those diver- 
sified commodities, the interchange of which so 

P (169) 



170 THE OCEAN, 

greatly promotes peace and good- will, and is, there- 
fore, fraught with blessings to mankind. 

Leaving behind ns the inhospitable waters of the 
north, let us take an imaginary voyage through this 
important and interesting portion of the great deep, 
still having an open eye to mark the footsteps of 
Him whose ^'way is in the sea, and His path in the 
great waters." The north breeze blows cheerily, 
though coldly, and the sun, daily attaining a more 
elevated position at noon, while the pole-star nightly 
approaches the horizon, tells us of our rapid progress 
southward. By and by, the shout of " Land ho I" 
directs our attention to the horizon, where, with 
straining eyes, we dimly discern what appears to be 
a faint mass of cloud, of so evanescent a hue, that 
a landsman looks long in the direction of the sea- 
man's finger, and yet continues dubious whether 
anything is really visible or not. Now he says con- 
fidently, '^ Ha ! I caught a glance of it then :" but 
presently it turns out that his eye has been directed 
to a point quite wide of the indicated locality .; and 
again he slowly but vainly sweeps the horizon with 
his eye, in search of what the practised vision of the 
mariner detects and recognises at a glance. Mean- 
while, the ship rushes on before the cheerful breeze ; 
we go down to breakfast ; and on again coming on 
deck, there no longer remains any doubt ; there lies 
the land on the lee bow, high and blue, and pal- 
pable. It is one of the Azores; and as we draw 
nearer, we discern and admire the picturesque beau- 
ties by which they are distinguished. The lofty 
clifis of varying hues rear their bold heads perpen- 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. l^jl 

dicularly from the foaming waves, cut and seamed 
into dark chasms and ravines, through which rocky- 
torrents find a noisy course, while here and there 
a little stream is poured over the very summit of the 
precipice, the cascade descending in a white narrow 
line, conspicuous against the dark rock behind, until 
the wind carries it away in feathery spray, long be- 
fore it reaches the bottom. The sunlight throws 
the prominences and cavities of the cliffs into broad 
masses of light and shadow, which, ever changing 
as the ship rapidly alters her position, give a magic 
character to the scene. Here and there, on the 
sides of the hills farther inland, the lawns and fields 
of lively green, speckled with white villas and ham- 
lets, and relieved by the rich verdure of the orange- 
groves, present a softer but not less pleasing pros- 
pect. Other islands of this interesting group gradu- 
ally rise from the horizon, all of similar character, 
but diverse in appearance from their various dis- 
tance; some showing out in palpable distinctness, 
and others seen only in shadowy outline. But there 
is one which, from the singularity of its shape, arrests 
the attention. A mountain, of a very regularly 
conical form, seems to rise abruptly from the sea, 
with remarkable steepness, verdant almost to the 
summit ; it is almost like a sugar-loaf, with a rounded 
top, crowned by a nipple-like prominence, which is 
often veiled by clouds. It is the Peak of Pico, 
seven thousand feet in height, second in celebrity, 
as in elevation, ^only to the Peak of Teneriffe. A 
recent visitor has thus described the picturesque 
beauty of this oceanic mountain : — " The hoary head 



172 



THE OCEAN. 




Pico. 



of Pico presents a great variety of beauty. One 
afternoon it was lightly powdered with snow, so as 
to give it a tint of sober olive ; with a larger quan- 
tity of frost or snow, and stronger and more direct 
sunshine, it has looked like dead silver ; at another 
time it was tipped with fire ; at another it was pavi- 
lioned in flame- coloured clouds ; — a few light mists 
would shut it entirely out, or, where transparent, 
give to it a wan and visionary hue ; and in the even- 
ing, when the clouds put on a gayer livery, becoming 
rose- coloured, or purple, or bronzed, the changes and 
flushes would almost remind you of the variable 
colours on a pigeon's neck; or, as a poet has said, 

* Of hues that blush and glow 
Like angels' wings.' "-••" 



* Bullar's Azores, i. 368. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. I73 

Some curious traditions are found in the writings 
of the ancients respecting an island of very large size, 
believed to have once existed in the Atlantic. Plato, 
in the Timaeus, gives the fullest account of this 
island, which was called Atlantis. It is stated to have 
been nearly two hundred miles in length, situated 
opposite the Straits of Gibraltar. It was fertile and 
populous, and some of the warlike chiefs among 
whom it was divided, are said to have made irrup- 
tions upon the continent, and to have conquered a 
considerable part of Europe and Northern Africa. 
Several other islands are described as situated in the 
vicinity of Atlantis, beyond which lay a continent 
superior in size to all Europe and Africa. At length, 
the whole island is reported to have been swallowed 
up by the sea ; after which, for a long period, that 
part of the Ocean was of difficult and dangerous navi- 
gation, on account of the numerous rocks and shelves 
which lay beneath the surface. There are many cir- 
cumstances which render it improbable that this 
story, marvellous as it is, is entirely a fiction. It 
has been supposed that the great island was Cuba, 
the surrounding ones the other West Indies, and the 
great continent America ; and that the cessation of 
intercourse with these regions, through the decay of 
naval enterprise, gave rise to the tradition that the 
island itself had disappeared. But this would not 
explain the matter-of-fact statement of the rocky 
shallows after the catastrophe; nor would the dis- 
tance of Cuba from Europe permit martial invasions 
of this continent to be readily made from it. Others 
have concluded — and this does not seem to my own 

p2 



I'ji THE OCEAN. 

mind inconsistent with probability — that the state- 
ments of the ancients may be literally true ; • that 
by the action of an earthquake, of which we have 
had instances in modern times, the island may have 
been submerged, and that the Azores are the sum- 
mits of the highest mountains. It seems somewhat 
to confirm this opinion, that these islands are evi- 
dently volcanic in their origin, and are very sub- 
ject to earthquakes, — nay, the very phenomenon of 
islands swallowed up by the sea has repeatedly oc- 
curred here within historical record. It is true, that 
in these instances the island itself was small, and 
had been but recently raised by volcanic action; 
but it does not seem necessary that in similar cases 
there should be an exact parallelism, either in size 
or duration. The last of these occurrences was so 
remarkable on other accounts as to be well worthy of 
a detailed description, which is given by an eye-wit- 
ness. Captain Tillard, an officer of the British navy : 
"Approaching the island of St. Michael's, on the 
12th June, 1811, we occasionally observed, rising in 
the horizon, two or three columns of smoke, such 
as would have been occasioned by an action between 
two ships, to which cause we universally attributed 
its origin. This opinion was, however, in a very 
short time changed, from the smoke increasing and 
ascending in much larger bodies than could possibly 
have been produced by such an event ; and having 
heard an account, prior to our sailing from Lisbon, 
that in the preceding January or February a volcano 
had burst out within the sea near St. Michael's, we 
immediately concluded that the smoke we saw pro- 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 175 

ceeded from tTiat cause, and on our anchoring tlie 
next morning in the road of Ponta del Gada, we 
found this conjecture correct as to the cause, but 
not as to the time ; the eruption of January having 
totally subsided, and the present one having only 
burst forth two days prior to our approach, and 
about three miles distant from the one before al- 
luded to." 

The Captain having proceeded to a cliff on the 
island of St. Michael's, about three or four hundred 
feet high, from which the eruption was scarcely a 
mile distant, proceeds to describe its appearance: 
"Imagine an immense body of smoke rising from 
the sea, the surface of which was marked by the 
silvery rippling of the waves. In a quiescent state, 
it had the appearance of a circular cloud revolving 
on the water, like a horizontal wheel, in various and 
irregular involutions, expanding itself gradually on 
the lee side; when suddenly, a column of the 
blackest cinders, ashes, and stones, would shoot up 
in the form of a spire, at an angle of from ten to 
twenty degrees from a perpendicular line, the angle 
of inclination being universally to windward; this 
was rapidly succeeded by a second, third, and fourth 
shower, each acquiring greater velocity, and over- 
topping the other, till they had attained an altitude 
as much above the level of our eye as the sea was 
below it. 

"As the impetus with which the several columns 
were severally propelled diminished, and their as- 
cending motion had nearly ceased, they broke into 
various branches resembling a group of pines : these. 



It6 



THE OCEAN. 




Submarine Volcano. 



again forming themselves into festoons of white fea- 
thery smoke, in the most fanciful manner imaginable, 
intermixed with the finest particles of falling ashes, 
which at one time assumed the appearance of innu- 
merable plumes of black and white ostrich feathers 
surmounting each other; at another, that of the 
light wavy branches of a weeping willow. 

" During these bursts, the most vivid flashes of 
lightning continually issued from the densest part of 
the volcano ; and the cloud of smoke now ascend- 
ing to an altitude much above the highest point to 
which the ashes were projected, rolled off in large 
masses of fleecy clouds, gradually expanding them- 
selves before the wind in a direction nearly hori- 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 17^ 

zontal, and drawing up to them a quantity of water- 
spouts, which formed a most beautiful and striking 
addition to the general appearance of the scene." 

In the course of a few hours, a crater had been 
thrown up by these eruptions, to the height of 
twenty feet above the sea, and apparently three or 
four hundred feet in diameter. Eepeated shocks of 
an earthquake accompanied the explosion. The 
narrator was obliged to leave the neighbourhood 
on the succeeding day, at which time the volcanic 
eruption was seen from a distance to be still raging 
with undiminished fury. About three weeks after- 
wards he returned to the spot, and found all quiet, 
but the newly-formed island had increased to a mile 
in circumference, and the highest part appeared to 
have an elevation of about two hundred and forty 
feet. On landing, he found the place still smoking, 
and the larger crater nearly fall of water in a boiling 
state, which was being discharged into the Ocean by 
a stream about six yards across : this stream, close to 
the edge of the sea, was so hot, as barely to admit 
the momentary immersion of the finger.* On the 
11th of October, in the same year, this island sank 
beneath the Ocean from which it had emerged, 
leaving a dangerous shoal in the neighbourhood, 
thus realizing the traditionary fate of the island of 
Atlantis. 

But let us pursue our voyage. As we follow the 
setting sun to his bed among the Indian islands of 
the west, the tedium of our way across the trackless 

* Trans. Roy. Soc. 1812. 
12 



l^jg THE OCEAN. 

waste is enlivened by those clieerful little birds, the 
Petrels {ProceUaria pelagica\ the constant com- 
panions of the sailor, by whom they are familiarly 
named Mother Carey's chickens. They are pecu- 
liarly Ocean-birds: rarely approaching the shore, 
except when they seek gloomy and inaccessible rocks 
for the purpose of breeding ; they are never seen but 
in association with the boundless waste of waters. 
Scarcely larger than the swallow that darts through 
our streets, one wonders that so frail a little bird 
should brave the fury of the tempest ; but when the 
masts are cracking, and the cordage shrieking fit- 
fully in the fierce blast, and when the sea is leaping 
■up into mountainous waves, whose foaming crests 
are torn off in invisible mist before the violence of 
the gale, the little Petrel flits hither and thither, 
now treading the brow of the watery hill, now 
sweeping through the valley, piping its singular note 
with as much glee as if it were the very spirit of the 
storm, which the superstitious mariner, indeed, attri- 
butes to its evil agency. Flocks of these little birds, 
more or less numerous, accompany ships, often for 
many days successively, not, as has been asserted, 
to seek a refuge from the storm in their shelter, 
but to feed on the greasy particles which the cook 
now and then throws overboard, or the floating sub- 
stances which the vessel's motion brings to the sur- 
face. It is a pleasing sight to see them crowd up 
close under the stern with confiding fearlessness, 
their sooty wings horizontally extended, and their 
tiny web-feet put down to feel the water, while they 
pick up with their beaks the minute atoms of food 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. l^^ 

of whicli they are in search. I have been surprised 
to notice how very quickly a flock will collect, 
though a few moments before scarcely one could 
be seen in any direction ; and again they disperse 
as speedily. They seem to have the power of dis- 
pensing with sleep, at least for very long intervals. 
Wilson, one of the most accurate of observers, has 
recorded a fact illustrative of this : " In firing at 
these birds, a quill-feather was broken in each wing 
of an individual, and hung fluttering in the wind, 
which rendered it so conspicuous among the rest, as 
to be known to all on board. This bird, notwith- 
standing its inconvenience, continued with us for 
nearly a week, during which we sailed a distance 
of more than four hundred miles to the north." Of 
course, if this individual had gone to sleep, the 
vessel would have sailed away, and we can hardly 
imagine that it would have again found her in her 
pathless course. I do not believe they have ever 
been known to alight on the rigging or deck of a 
ship. 

It is a pity that so interesting a little creature 
as this should become the object of a degrading 
and meaningless superstition. The persuasion that 
they are in some mysterious manner connected with 
the creation of storms, is so prevalent among sea- 
men, as to render them, innocent and confiding as 
they are, objects of general dislike, and often even 
of hatred. I once made a voyage with a captain, 
who, though a man of much intelligence, was not 
proof against this absurd superstition, venting hearty 
execrations against these "devil's imps," as he called 



180 THE OCEAN. 

them, in every gale, as if they had been the mali- 
cious authors of it. If this unoffending little bird 
does afford any indication of a coming storm, dis- 
covered by its more acute perceptions, which, never- 
theless, I very much doubt, why should not those 
who navigate the Ocean, receive its warning with 
gratitude, and make preparations for security, instead 
of following it with profane and impotent curses ? 
" As well might they curse the midnight lighthouse 
that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or 
the buoy that warns them of the sunken rocks below, 
as this harmless wanderer, whose manner informs 
them of the approach of the storm, and thereby 
enables them to prepare for it." 

A frequent relief to the tedium of a long voyage 
is found in the shoals of playful Dolphins {Del- 
phinus delphisj Sc.) which so often perform their 
amusing gambols around us. They may be discerned 
at a great distance ; as they are continually leaping 
from the surface of the sea, an action which, as it 
seems to have no obvious object, is probably the 
mere exuberance of animal mirth. When a shoal is 
seen thus frolicing at the distance of a mile or two, 
in a few moments, having caught sight of the ship, 
down they come trooping with the velocity of the 
wind, impelled by curiosity to discover what being 
of monstrous bulk thus invades their domain. When 
arrived, they display their agility in a thousand 
graceful motions, now leaping with curved bodies 
many feet into the air, then darting through a wave 
with incredible velocity, leaving a slender wake of 
whitening foam under the water; now the thin back- 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 181 

fin only is exposed, cutting the surface like a knife; 
then the broad and muscular tail is elevated as the 
animal plunges perpendicularly down into the depth, 
or dives beneath the keel to explore the opposite 
side. So smooth are their bodies, that their gam- 
bols are performed with surprisingly little disturbance 
of the water, and even when descending from their 
agile somersets they make scarcely any splash. The 
colour of the upper parts of their bodies is of a deep 
black, but by a deception of the sight, caused, pro- 
bably, by the swiftness of their motions, and by the 
gleaming of the light from their wet and glittering 
skin, they appear in the air and under water of a 
light-greenish- grey. After having taken a few rapid 
turns nnder and around the vessel, the whole shoal, 
consisting of a dozen or two, usually congregate 
immediately beneath the bowsprit, where they re- 
main sometimes for hours, romiping and rolling about 
as if the ship were perfectly stationary, instead of 
spanking along at the rate of seven or eight knots 
an hour, apparently making no effort to go ahead, 
and yet keeping their relative position with admir- 
able dexterity and precision. But they are allowed 
to remain so long undisturbed only when the duties 
of the ship demand the attention of the hands: for 
if there be a few moments of leisure, the presence 
of a shoal of Dolphins is too tempting to pass un- 
heeded. Some one of the crew reputed to be skil- 
ful in wielding the harpoon, in small vessels often 
the captain himself, goes forward, and having taken 
his station upon the bowsprit-heel, or upon one of 
the cat-heads, poises his implement of war, and waits 

Q 



182 THE OCEAN. 

a favourable moment of attack. ISTow the bows are 
thronged with anxious faces; the usual discipline 
of the ship is relaxed on such occasions; even the 
sooty cook leaves his caboose, and with the dirty 
cabin-boy endeavours to witness the interesting per- 
formance. All are there but the man at the wheel, 
and even he stands on tip-toe to catch a glimpse 
of what is going on, and neglecting his helm, "yaws" 
the ship about sadly. The unsuspecting visitors 
continue their romps: presently one comes within 
aim, pretty near the surface; the dart is thrown, and 
if the trembling anxiety of the harpooner have not 
marred his skill, strikes its object: I have known 
it, however, take effect obliquely on the side, cutting, 
deeply into the flesh, but retaining no hold ; in which 
case the poor wounded creature, with its bowels ex- 
posed and protruding, instantly shoots away, accom- 
panied by all its fellows, not, however, to sympathize 
with it, or afford it any assistance, but, if the sailors 
may be believed, to fall upon and devour it. But 
we will suppose that the barbed weapon has trans- 
fixed the animal in the back, and, piercing through 
the superficial coat of fat, has lodged deep in the 
solid flesh. The Dolphin plunges convulsively: the 
whole herd are gone like a thought, leaving their 
unhappy comrade to his fate: the stout line stretches 
with the force, but brings him up with a jerk ; the 
barbs are beneath the tough muscles, and resist all 
his endeavours for freedom: a dozen eager hands 
are thrust forth to grasp the line and haul him to 
the surface. The struggles of, the desperate crea- 
ture are now tremendous: the water all around is 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 183 

lashed into boiling foam, reddened with the life-blood 
that is fast ebbing from his wound. Two or three 
of the most agile now jump into the fore- chains, 
with the end of a rope formed into a running noose; 
they hang this down into the water, and endeavour 
to get the bight over his tail; many trials are un- 
successfully made to do this, for the frantic motions 
of the animal render it a very difficult operation; at 
length, however, it is drawn over, tightened, and the 
prey is considered secure. It is now comparatively 
easy, with the aid of a boat-hook, to pass another 
rope under the body, just behind the breast-fins, and 
then he is soon hoisted on deck. I have been asto- 
nished to observe how very inadequate is the notion 
one forms of the dimensions of these animals by see- 
ing them only in the water; an individual that mea- 
sures eight feet in length, appearing in water not 
more than four or five. The muscular power is very 
great, but is chiefly concentrated in the tail, and, 
therefore, when the animal is removed from its na- 
tive element, it is almost helpless, its exertions being 
confined to the violent blows which it inflicts upon 
the deck with this broad and powerful organ. In 
all essential particulars, the Dolphin agrees with the 
Whale already described, being of the same order; 
but it differs in having an upright fin on the back, 
and both the upper and lower jaws armed with nume- 
rous small, close, and pointed teeth. In one speci- 
men which I saw captured, I counted one hundred 
and fifty- two in all; they are beautifully regular, 
and those of one jaw fit into the interstices of the 
other. The Dolphin differs from the Porpesse {Pho- 



184 THE OCEAN. 

cce.na) bj having the jaws lengthened out into a long 
and slender beak, almost like that of some bird: in 
other respects, there is little difference between the 
Porpesse and the Dolphin. Both are very voracious, 
pursuing any prey they can master: in the stomach 
of one taken in the Atlantic, I found a number of 
the beaks of Cuttles {Sepiadoe). A century or two 
ago, the flesh of this animal was esteemed a dainty 
worthy the attention of epicures in this country; 
but now it is relished only by those whom the salt 
provisions of a long voyage have rendered less choice 
than they would be under other circumstances. From 
the abundance of blood, the meat is very dark in 
appearance; but to my own taste, on one or two 
occasions, with my appetite sharpened by the pri- 
vation just mentioned, steaks cut from it and fried 
have seemed very savoury and agreeable. 

Now the long yellow strings of floating weed, 
which lie in parallel lines pointing to the wind, or 
the broader masses that resemble meadows parched 
by protracted drought, inform us that wq are in that 
mighty current of tepid water, the Grulf-stream. We 
hasten to the gangway, and having drawn a few 
buckets of clear transparent water, which we deposit 
in a tub, collect with a boat-hook, a quantity of the 
floating weed, and immerse it in the tub of watet 
to be examined. Many of the stems and berry- 
like air-vessels are coated with a thin and delicate 
tissue of shelly substance (Flustra), of a greyish 
hue, like very minute network, so delicate as not 
at all to disfigure or conceal the form of the sub- 
stance on which it is spread. Attached to the weed 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 185 

are groups of little Barnacles {Lepas\ from tbe 
size of a pin's head to half an inch in length. While 
under water, these are incessantly projecting and re- 
tracting the elegant curled apparatus of cirri with 
which they are furnished, resembling a plume of 
feathers; from which resemblance it probably was 
that the inhabitants of a species found on the Scot- 
tish coast were asserted to be "of that nature to be 
finally by nature of seas resolved into geese."* The 
purpose of this continual motion of the fringed arms 
appears to be twofold; first, to make a constant eddy 
in the surrounding water, and thus bring minute ani- 
mals within reach, and then to enclose such as are 
brought in as by the cast of a net, and convey them 
to the mouth. Crawling on the surface of the weed 
we may now and then find a nimble little Crab 
{Lupa\ with the shell on each side projecting hori- 
zontally into a sharp spine. We are surprised at 
first to find a Crab on the surface of the Ocean, as 
the species with which we are familiar have not the 
power of swimming. On endeavouring to procure 
one for examination, however, we no sooner touch 
the fragment of the weed with the boat-hook, than the 
watchful little Crab hurries off into the water, and 
swims rapidly away out of reach. If we be for- 
tunate enough to secure one by skilful manoeuvring 
with the bucket or dip-net, we shall discover a 
peculiar structure, by means of which these Ocean- 
crabs are endowed with the faculty of swimming. 
In the common Crab, all the feet, except the claws, 
terminate in a sharp point, but in the present genus 

* Boece, Cosmography of Albioun. Eclin. about 1541. 
q2 



186 THE OCEAN. 

the hindmost pair have the last joint flattened out 
into a thin but broad oval plate, the edge of which 
is thickly fringed with fine hairs. This structure is 
exactly parallel to that by which the foot of a perch- 
ing bird is modified into the foot of a swimming 
bird, the surface being dilated into a broad web; or 
to the wide fringe by which the hind feet of a water- 
beetle are made such powerful oars; the flattened 
joint in the present case becoming a paddle, by the 
stroke of which a rapid motion is obtained through 
the water. These Swimming Crabs are very vora- 
cious, preying upon the little shrimps that are nume- 
rous aboat the weed, which they pursue and seize 
with their pincers. Sometimes the Crab remains 
at rest, but vigilant, until a shrimp swims within 
reach, when he grasps it with great quickness, and 
proceeds to devour it by degrees. In doing this, 
he holds it fast by one claw, while with the other 
he picks off very daintily the legs and other mem- 
bers of his prey, putting them bit by bit into his 
mouth, until nothing remains but the tail, which he 
rejects. 

The weed is usually the resort of several small 
species of fishes, which doubtless congregate about 
it for the sake of the minute Crustacea that are so 
abundant. Among them I have found a very in- 
teresting little species of Toad-fish {Antennarius\ 
whose pectoral and ventral fins project so far from 
the surface of the body as to expose the joint, and 
thus take the form of the feet of a quadruped. It 
uses these members actually as feet, crawling and 
pushing its way among the tangled weed by means 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 18t 

of them. It has even been known to come on shore, 
and remain several days without any communica- 
tion with the water. On the head of this fish there 
are one or two slender horns, furnished at the tip 
with several processes resembling little worms. The 
use of these organs is very remarkable. The fish is 
not one of swift motion, and therefore cannot take 
its prey by pursuit: instead of this, it usually con- 
ceals itself among the mud at the bottom, or per- 
haps among the stalks of floating weed, while it 
agitates its curious fleshy horns; their resemblance 
to worms and their motion attract other fishes, 
which, coming within reach, are seized by the capa- 
cious mouth of the latent Toad-fish. The lower jaw 
extending beyond the upper, causes the mouth to 
open perpendicularly, and the eyes are so situated 
as to look in the same direction, both of which 
arrangements facilitate the capture of prey by this 
singular mode. It is not improbable that the worm- 
like tentacles attached to the mouth and chin of 
other fishes, as the Cod and Barbie, for example, 
answer an end somewhat similar to this. 

In keeping small marine animals for examination, 
we often lose the specimens through the water be- 
coming speedily unfit for supporting animal life; 
a minute Shrimp or two, or a fish of an inch in 
length, if confined in a large basin of water, will 
usually exhaust the oxygen during the night, and 
be dead by the morning. A little living seaweed, 
however, placed with them, will prevent, or, at least, 
delay this, as plants in a living state give out oxygen. 

Every night the pole-star is perceptibly nearer the 



Ig3 THE OCEAN. 

horizon, and every day tlie meridian sun readies to 
a higher and yet a higher point, until it appears al- 
most vertical. The wind gradually becomes lighter, 
until we arrive at the " calm latitudes," where we 
lie weeks without making any progress. The cap- 
^ tain and crew whistle for wind with as much per- 
severance as if- they had never been disappointed, 
and every one watches anxiously for the least breath- 
ings of a breeze. Nothing can exceed the tantaliz- 
ing tedium of this condition ; the wearied eye gazes 
intently upon the glistening sea, and eagerly catches 
the slightest ruffling of the mirror-like smoothness, 
in hopes that it may be an indication of wind ; but 
on glancing at the feather- vane upon the ship's quar- 
ter, the hope fades on perceiving it hang motionless 
from its staff. A still more delicate test is then re- 
sorted to, that of throwing a live coal overboard, 
and marking if the little cloud of white steam has 
any lateral motion; but no! it ascends perpendi- 
cularly till dispersed in the air. Now and then, 
the polished surface of the sea is suddenly changed 
to a blue ripple; expectation becomes strong, for 
there is no doubt of the reality of the motion; but 
before the sails can feel the breeze, it has died away 
again ; the air is as still, and the sea as glassy, as 
before. Coleridge has well described such a state in 
his " Ancient Mariner :" — 



" The sun came up upon the left, 
Out of the sea came he ; 
And he shone bright and on the right 
Went down into the sea. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 139 

' Down dropp'd the breeze, the sails dropp'd down ; 

'Twas sad as sad could be : 
And we did speak only to break 

The silence of the sea. 



'' Day after day, day after day, 

We stuck, nor breath nor motion j 
As idle as a painted ship 
Upon a painted ocean." 

Not a cloud tempers the fierce burning rajs of 
the sun, which shoot directly on our heads ; the deck 
becomes scalding hot to the feet, the melting pitch 
boils up from the seams, the tar continually drops 
from the rigging, the masts and booms display 
gaping cracks, and the flukes of the anchors are too 
hot to be touched with impunity. In vain, if we 
happen to be sailing in a small vessel, which has 
no awning on board to spread over the quarter- 
deck, we seek for refuge beneath the sails which 
hang lazily from the yards and gaffs, inviting the 
desired gales; for so perpendicular are the fiery 
beams in the heat of the day, that very little shadow 
is afforded by the sails, and even that little is con- 
stantly shifting from the vessel's change of position 
in the swell. In such circumstances, I have in some 
measure felt the force of those similitudes in the 
Sacred Prophets, in which the blessings of the 
coming reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, after the 
long apostacy, are likened to "the shadow of a 
great rock in a weary land." '^Thou hast been a 
shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible 
ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt 
bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in 



190 THE OCEAN. 

a dry place ; even the heat with the shadow of a 
cloud."* 

Yet, though day after day rolls on and leaves us 
still in the same position, there are not wanting 
many things to beguile the weariness of the time. 
The gorgeous beauty of the sun's setting almost 
makes amends for his unmitigated heat by day. As 
his orb approaches the western horizon, the clouds, 
which have been absent during the day, begin to 
form in that quarter of the heavens; and, as he sinks, 
assume hues of the richest purple edged with gold, 
now hiding his disc, now allowing him to flash out 
his softened effulgence through crimson openings, 
till he falls beneath the massy mountain -like bed of 
cloud that seems to lie heavily upon the surface of 
the sea. Then the whole array begins to take the 
appearance of a lovely landscape ; the clouds forming 
the land, while the open sky represents calm water. 
Sometimes we seem to see the long capes and bold 
promontories of a broken and picturesque coast, 
deeply indented with bays and creeks, and fringed 
with groups of islands; at others, silvery lakes, 
studded with little wooded islets, appear embosomed 
in mountains or surrounded by gentle slopes, here 
and there clothed with umbrageous woods. Such 
an appearance of reality is given to these fleeting 
scenes, that it is difficult, after gazing at them for 
a few minutes, to believe they are mere shadows. 
The mind forgets the world of waters around, and, 
in the enthusiasm of the hour, goes out in busy 
imagination to that beautiful land, and roves among 

* Isa. xxxii. 2 ; xxv. 4, 5 j iv. 6. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 191 

its valleys and hills in dreamy enjoyment. "We are 
not, then, surprised that the imaginative Greeks 
should have sung of their Fortunate Islands, the 
habitations of the blessed, placed far away in the 
ocean of the west, and invested with more than 
earthly loveliness; nor that the existence of isles 
of similar character, in the same mysterious, be- 
cause unknown, regions, should have found a place 
in the mythology of even so remote a nation as the 
Hindoos. 

The beauteous scenes before us, however, are as 
transitory as they are lovely : night comes on with 
a rapidity, startling to us accustomed to the long 
twilight of the north ; the rich hues with which the 
western sky is suffused, the crimson and ruddy gold, 
speedily change to a warm and swarthy brown, and 
one by one the stars come out, and light up the sky 
with a strange and unwonted effulgence. Humboldt 
describes in the following terms his own emotions 
on first seeing the brilliant stars of these regions : — 

"From the time we entered the torrid zone, we 
were never wearied with admiring, eyery night, the 
beauty of the southern sky, which, as we advanced 
towards the south, opened new constellations to our 
view. "We feel an indescribable sensation, when, 
on approaching the equator, and particularly on 
passing from one hemisphere to the other, we see 
those stars which we have contemplated from our 
infancy, progressively sink, and finally disappear. 
Nothing awakens in the traveller a livelier /remem- 
brance of the immense distance by which he is 
separated from his country, than the aspect of an 



192 THE OCEAN. 

unknown firmament. The grouping of the stars of 
the first magnitude, some scattered nebulae rivalling 
in splendour the milky way, and tracts of space 
remarkable for their extreme blackness, give a par- 
ticular physiognomy to the southern sky. This 
sight fills with admiration even those, who, unin- 
structed in the branches of accurate science, feel 
the same emotions of delight in the contemplation 
of the heavenly vault, as in the view of a beautiful 
landscape, or a majestic river. A traveller has no 
need of being a botanist to recognize the torrid zone 
on the mere aspect of its vegetation ; and, without 
having acquired any notions of astronomy, he feels 
he is not in Europe, when he sees the immense con- 
stellation of the Ship, or the phosphorescent clouds 
of Magellan, arise on the horizon. The heaven and 
the earth, everything in the equinoctial regions, as- 
sume an exotic character,"^ 

But of all the constellations that stud the sky of 
the southern hemisphere, there is none that more 
strikes a stranger than the Southern Cross. Its 
beauty, as well as the singularity of its form, cannot 
fail to inspire interest; even though we be, through 
the grace of God, furnished with ideas of true 
and spiritual worship, that prevent our viewing it 
with the superstitious reverence with which it is 
regarded by the inhabitants of South America. It 
is not seen above the horizon until we are within 
the tropics, and scarcely appears to advantage until 
we approach the equator. As the two brilliant stars 
which form the top and bottom of the Cross, have 

* Personal Narrative, 1814. Vol. ii. p. 18. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 



198 



nearly the same right ascension, they assume a per- 
pendicular position when upon the meridian; and 
hence afford an accurate mode of measuring time; 




The Southern Ckoss. 



as the hour of southing at the different seasons, vary- 
ing four minutes every night, is well known to the 
inhabitants of the southern hemisphere. It is vqyj 
common to hear the peasants observe one to another, 
''It is after midnight" (or some other hour); "the 
Cross begins to fall!" 

Alone, in the midst of the ocean, called to nightly 
Avatchings upon the deck, the mariner naturally 
becomes familiar with the glowing orbs which are 
revealed by the surrounding darkness; and if he 
be a Christian, his thoughts are led out, as he lifts 
13 R 



194 



THE OCEAN. 



up liis eyes on liigli, and beholds the stars marshal- 
led'in order, or the moon ''walking in brightness," to 
Him that "created these things, that bringeth out 
their host by number, and calleth them all by 
names." For "the heavens declare the glory of 
God; and the firmament sheweth His handy work. 
Day unto day uttereth speech; and night unto night 
sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor lan- 
guage, where their voice is not heard." 

Between, or in the neighbourhood of the tropics, 
the ship is rarely unaccompanied by fishes of many 
species, Avhich, in the clear waters of these southern 
seas, are visible many fathoms beneath her keel. 




CORYPHENE (Coryphcena), 



One of the most common, and perhaps one of the 
most beautiful, is the Coryphene (Coryphcena), mis- 
called by seamen, the Dolphin. One is never weary 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAX. I95 

of admiring their beauty. Their form is deep, but 
thin and somewhat flattened; and their sides are of 
brilliant pearly white, like polished silver. In small 
companies of five or six, they usually appear and 
play around and beneath the ship, sometimes close 
to the surface, and sometimes at such a depth that 
the eye can but dimly discern their shadowy out- 
line. When playing at an inconsiderable depth, in 
their turnings hither and thither, the rays of the 
sun, reflected from ther polished sides, as one or 
the other is exposed to the light, flash out in sudden 
gleams, or are interrupted, in a very striking man- 
ner. Night and day these interesting creatures are 
sporting about, apparently insusceptible of weari- 
ness. Their motion is very rapid, when their powers 
are put forth, as in pursuit of the timid little Flying- 
fish. It is to these fishes that most of the accounts 
of Dolphins, which we read in voyages, must be 
referred, as, owing to some mistake of identity, 
not easily accounted for, the name of Dolphin has 
been universally misapplied by our seamen to the 
Coryphene, while they confound the true Dolphin 
with the Porpesse. From not adverting to this 
habitual misnomer, some confusion has arisen: thus 
the following interesting notice has been quoted 
in a late valuable work on the Cetacea,"^ as illustra- 
tive of the true Dolphins, although the fair nar- 
rator herself takes care to inform us that she means 
the Coryplioena liipjpuris: "The other morning, a 
large Dolphin, which had been following the ship 
for some distance, and was sparkling most gloriously 

*Jardine's Naturalist's Library. 



196 THE OCEAN. 

in the sun, suddenly detected a slioal of Flying-fish 
rising from the sea at some distance. "With the 
rapidity of lightning he wheeled round, made one 
tremendous leap, and so timed his fall as to arrive 
fairly at the place where our little friends, the Fly- 
ing-fish, were forced to drop into the sea to refresh 
their weary wing. A flight of sea-gulls now joined 
in the pursuit; we gave up our proteges for lost, 
when, to our great joy, we beheld them rising again, 
for they had merely skimmed the wave, and, thus 
recruited, continued their flight. Their restless foe 
pursued them with giant strides, now cutting the 
wave, which flashed and sparkled with the reflection 
of his brilliant coat, and then giving one huge leap, 
which brought him up with his prey: they seemed 
conscious that escape was impossible; their flight 
became shorter and more flurried, whilst the Dolphin, 
animated by the certain prospect of success, grew 
more vigorous in his bounds; exhausted, they drop- 
ped their wings, and fell one by one into the jaws 
of the Dolphin, or were snapped up by the vigilant 
Gulls."'^ 

Captain Basil Hall has described a very similar 
scene in nearly parallel terms; but, to prevent mis- 
understanding, he also informs his readers that "the 
Dolphin" of his narrative is the Coryijhcena hvppuris 
of naturalists, and a true fish. 

"Shortly after observing a cluster of Flying-fish 
rise out of the water, we discovered two or three 
Dolphins [Coryphenes] ranging past the ship, in all 
their beauty; and watched with some anxiety to 

*Miss Lloyd's Sketches of Bennuda. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 199 

see one of those aquatic chases, of which our friends 
the Indiamen had been telling us such wonderful 
stories. We had not long to wait; for the ship, 
in her progress through the water, soon put up 
another shoal of these little things, which, as the 
others had done, took their flight directly to wind- 
ward. A large Dolphin, which had been keeping 
company with us abreast of the weather gangway, 
at the depth of two or three fathoms, and, as usual, 
glistening most beautifully in the sun, no sooner 
detected our poor, dear little friends take wing, than 
he turned his head towards them, and, darting to 
the surface, leaped from the water with a velocity 
little short, as it seemed, of a cannon-ball. But, 
although the impetus with which he shot himself 
into the air gave him an initial velocity greatly 
exceeding that of the Flying- fish, the start which his 
fated prey had got, enabled them to keep ahead of 
him for a considerable time. 

"The length of the Dolphin's first spring could 
not be less than ten yards; and, after he fell, we 
could see him gliding like lightning through the 
water for a moment, when he again rose and shot 
forwards with considerably greater velocity than at 
first, and, of course, to a still greater distance. In 
this manner the merciless pursuer seemed to stride 
along the sea with fearful rapidity, while his bril- 
liant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite splen- 
didly. As he fell headlong on the water, at the end 
of each huge leap, a series of circles were sent far 
over the still surface, which lay as smooth as a 
mirror. 



200 ^"ilK OCEAN. 



"The group of wretclied Fljing-fisli, thus hotly 
pursued, at length dropped into the sea; but we 
were rejoiced to observe that they merely touched 
the top of the swell, and scarcely sunk in it; at 
least, they instantly set off again in a fresh and even 
more vigorous flight. It was particularly interest- 
ing to observe, that the direction they now toolc 
Avas quite different from the one in which they had 
set out, implying but too obviously that they had 
detected their fierce enemy, who was following them 
with giant steps along the waves, and now gaining 
rapidly upon them. His terrific pace, indeed, was 
two or three times as swift as theirs, poor little 
things ! 

"The greedy Dolphin, however, was fully as 
quick-sighted as the Flying-fish which were trying 
to elude him; for, whenever they varied their flight 
in the smallest degree, he lost not the tenth part of 
a second in shaping a new course, so as to cut off 
the chase; while they, in a manner really not un- 
like that of the hare, doubled more than once upon 
their pursuer. But it was soon too plainly to be 
seen that the strength and confidence of the Flying- 
fish were fast ebbing. Their flights became shorter 
and shorter, and their course more fluttering and 
uncertain, while the enormous leaps of the Dolphin 
appeared to grow only more vigorous at each bound. 
Eventuallj^, indeed, we could see, or fancied that 
we could see, that this skilful sea-sportsman ar- 
ranged all his springs with such an assurance of suc- 
cess, that he contrived to fall, at the end of each, 
just under the very spot on which the exhausted Fly- 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 201 

ing-fisli were about to drop ! Sometimes tliis catas- 
trophe took place at too great a distance for its to 
see from the deck exactly what happened ; but on 
our mounting high into the rigging, we may be said 
to have been in at the death ; for then we could dis- 
cover that the unfortunate little creatures, one after 
another, either popped right into the Dolphin's jaws 
as they lighted on the water, or were snapped up 
instantly afterwards. 

" It was impossible not to take an active part with 
our pretty little friends of the weaker side, and ac- 
cordingly we very speedily had our revenge. The 
middies and the sailors, delighted with the chance, 
rigged out a dozen or twenty lines from the jib- 
boom end and spritsail-yard-arms with hooks, baited 
merely with bits of tin, the glitter of which re- 
sembles so much that of the body and wings of the 
Flying-fish, that many a proud Dolphin, making 
sure of a delicious morsel, leaped in rapture at the 
deceitful prize. "^ 

Though these and other recorded anecdotes indu- 
bitably refer to the bright pearly fishes just described, 
there • cannot be a doubt that the same habits are 
found to mark the true Cetaceous Dolphins; while 
at the same time I confess that I do not recollect any 
instance in which such pursuit has been witnessed, in 
my own experience, or recorded in books of voyages. 
Indeed I do not conceive that the chase "of the Flying- 
iish by the Coryphene has been often witnessed, nor 
that it can be considered as any other than a rare 
occurrence. As the aerial boundings of the Flying- 

•;■- Frag. Voy. ana Trav. Second Series. Vul. i. p. 224, 



202 THE OCEAN. 

fish, however, are of constant observation within the 
tropics, it seems but natural to conclude that they 
are but the frolicsome putting forth of superabundant 
animal energy ; that they are, in fact, performed in 
sportive play, as the lamb skips and leaps upon the 
grass, or the dog pursues its own evasive tail. 
These flights, generally performed in shoals varying 
in number from a dozen to a hundred or more, are 
extremely pleasing, and sustain our interest even 
long after they have become familiar to us. One 
is apt, at first sight of a flock, especially if it be 
unexpected, to mistake them for white birds flying 
by, till they are seen to alight in the water. The 
length of the bound is enormous, if it be indeed 
effected by a single impulse ; but this point seems 
hardly to be satisfactorily settled even yet. I feel 
persuaded that I have more than once seen them 
deviate from the uniform curve which they usually 
describe, rising and sinking alternately so as to 
keep at the same distance from the undulations of 
the surface; and Humboldt, one of the most accu- 
rate of observers, speaks unhesitatingly of their flap- 
ping the air with their long fins. Indeed, it would 
else seem almost impossible to imagine that so small 
a fish, not so large as a herring, should be able to 
propel itself to the height of twenty feet, and to the 
distance of more than six hundred, through the air. 
Generally, one takes his leap first, then the whole 
flock follow at once, shooting in nearly a straight 
line, and skimming along a little above the surface; 
so little that they often strike the side of a rising 
wave, and go under water. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 203 

Another visitant, who very freely gives us much 
of his company, is the White Shark {Carcarias vul- 
garis)^ probably the most terrific monster that cleaves 
the waves; certainly the most hated, and at the same 
time feared, by the sailor. The catching of fish is at 
all times a pleasing amusement to the mariner ; but to 
catch the "Shirk," as he is called, there is a peculiar 
avidity, in which the gratification of a deep-seated 
hatred of the species, and vengeance for his murder- 
ous propensities, form the leading features. When 
taken, whether entrapped by the concealed hook, or 
struck by the open violence of the harpoon, and 
brought on deck, he is subjected to every indignity 
which an insane fury can heap upon an object — beat, 
stabbed, and kicked, and even reviled as if capable 
of understanding language. In truth, I have never 
seen any animal, terrestrial or aquatic, which, so to 
speak, has "villain" written on its countenance in as 
legible characters as the Shark. The shape of the 
head, and the form of the mouth, opening so far be- 
neath, are anything but prepossessing ; but there is 
a peculiar malignity in the expression of the eye, that 
seems almost satanic, and which one can never look 
upon without shuddering. The mouth is armed with 
teeth of very peculiar construction ; they are trian- 
gular in form, thin and flat, the central part, however, 
being thicker than the edges, which are as keen as a 
lancet, and cut into fine serratures, like a saw. In 
very large Sharks, the teeth have been found nearly 
two inches in breadth: they are placed in rows, 
sometimes to the number of six, one within another, 
lying nearly flat when not in use, but erected in a 



204 THE OCEAN. 

moment to seize prey : and as they are so planted in 
the jaw that each tooth is capable of independent 
motion, being furnished with its own muscles, and as 
the power of the jaws is enormous, they form one of 
the most terrific and formidable apparatus existing 
for the supply of carnivorous appetite. The fatal 
voracity of this animal is well known : instances are 
numerous of swimmers in tropical seas having been 
severed, in twain at one snap, or deprived of limbs, 
while, on more than one occasion, the whole body of 
a man has been taken from this living sepulchre. 
Yet this sanguinary voracity is but the result of an 
unerring instinct implanted in the animal by Goi), 
without the exercise of which its life could not be 
sustained : and therefore it seems not only foolish, but 
even sinful, to entertain feelings of personal revenge 
against it, as if it were endowed with human reason, 
" knowing good and evil." I do not know that it is 
wronsf to kill an animal so destructive and dan- 

o 

gerous ; I reprobate only the imputation to it of 
human motives, and the staining a useful act with 
unnecessary cruelty. 

The mode by which the race of these formidable 
creatures is continued, differing as it does so greatly 
from that of most other fishes, is exceedingly curious. 
The Shark, instead of depositing some millions, of 
eggs in a season, like the Cod or the Herring, pro- 
duces two eggs, of a square or oblong form, the coat 
of which is composed of a tough horny substance ; 
each corner is prolonged into a tendril, of which the 
two which are next the tail of the enclosed fish are 
stronger and more prehensile than the other pair. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 205 

The use of these tendrils appears to be their entan- 
glement among the stalks of sea- weeds, and the con- 
sequent mooring of the egg in a situation of pro- 
tection and comparative security. Kear the head 
there is a slit in the egg-skin, through which the 
water enters for respiration, and another at the oppo- 
site extremity by which it is discharged. That part 
of the skin which is near the head, is weaker and 
more easily ruptured than any other part ; a provi- 
sion for the easy exclusion of the animal, which takes 
place before the entire absorption of the vitellus or 
yolk of the Qgg^ the remainder being attached to the 
body of the young fish, enclosed in a capsule, which 
for awhile it carries about. The position of the ani- 
mal, while within the Qgg^ is with the head doubled 
back towards the tail, one very unfavourable for the 
process of breathing by internal gills, and hence there 
is an interesting provision made to meet the emer- 
gency. On each side a filament of the substance of 
the gills projects from the gill-opening, containing 
A^essels in which the blood is exposed to the action 
of the water. These processes are gradually absorbed 
after the fish is excluded, until which the internal 
gills are scarcely capable of respiration. How curious 
an analogy we here discover with the Frogs and 
Kewts among the Eeptiles; and how impressively do 
we learn the Divine benevolence, when we find that 
the object of so much contrivance and care is the 
dreaded and hated Shark ! 

In these latitudes the liammer-headed Shark 
(Zygcena malleus)^ a fish of singular construction, 
attains a large size. In most particulars it closely 



206 



THE OCEAN. 



resembles the species just noticed, but the head is 
widened out on each side into an oblong projection, 
at each extremity of which is placed the eye. The 
whole of this part has the form of a double-headed 
hammer or maul. Undoubtedly one result of this 
remarkable structure is a vast increase of the sphere 
of vision ; but why a fish so formidably armed, and 
endowed with such powers of motion, should be thus 
favoured, we are not sufficiently acquainted with its 
habits to determine. 

Another singular deviation from the general struc- 
ture is found in the Saw-fish {Pristis antiquorum\ 
which is a shark with the head prolonged into a flat 




Hammer-Shark {Zygcena malleus), and Saw-fish {Pristis antiquorum). 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAlSr. 207 

bony sword, each edge of whicL. is armed with sharp 
bony spines, resembling teeth, pointing backwards: 
there are about twenty of these in each row. The 
body also is covered on the upper surface with hard 
sharp tubercles, the points of which turn backwards. 
In this respect, it resembles some of the Eay or Skate 
tribe, as it does also in the flattened form of its body, 
and in other respects. Its colour is a dark grey on 
the upper parts, gradually softening into white 
beneath. This species was known to the ancients, 
being found in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as in 
the Ocean, but it is in the tropical seas that it acquires 
its most gigantic dimensions. It seems to be an animal 
of scarcely less ferocity, though far less frequently 
met with, than the Common Shark: to the Whales it 
is a formidable antagonist, and though the form of its 
saw-like sword does not seem most adapted for pene- 
trating a resisting body, such is the vigour of its 
attack, that it will bury its weapon to the root in the 
flesh of the Whale; and instances are not infrequent 
in which it has been found firmly imbedded in the 
hull of a ship. The following interesting narrative, 
by Captain Wilson of the Halifax packet, gives us 
an idea of the powers of this monster: — 

"Being in the Gulf of Paria, in the ship's cutter, 
on the 15th of April, 1839, I fell in with a Spanish 
canoe, manned by two men, then in great distress, 
who requested me to save their lives and canoe, with 
which request I immediately complied ; and going 
alongside for that purpose, I discovered that they 
had got a large Saw-fish entangled in their turtle- 
net, which was towing them out to sea, and but for 



208 THE OCEAN. 

my assistance they must have lost either their canoe 
or their net, or perhaps both, which were their only 
means of subsistence. Having only two boys with me 
in the boat at the time, I desired them to cat the fish 
away, which they refused to do ; I then took the 
bight of the net from them, and with the joint en- 
deavours of themselves and my boat's crew, we suc- 
ceeded in hauling up the net, and to our astonish- 
ment, after great exertions, we raised the saw of the 
fish about eight feet above the surface of the sea. 
It was a fortunate circumstance that the fish came 
up with the belly towards the boat, or it would have 
cut the boat in tv/o. 

"I had abandoned all idea of taking the fish, until, 
by great good luck, it made towards the land, when 
I made another attempt, and having about fifty 
fathoms of rope in the boat, we succeeded in making a 
running bowline-knot round the saw of the fish, and 
this we fortunately made fast on shore. "When the 
fish found itself secured, it plunged so violently, that 
I could not prevail on any one to go near it: the ap- 
pearance it presented was truly awful. I immediately 
went alongside the Lima packet, Capt. Singleton, 
and got the assistance of all his ship's crew. By the 
time they arrived the fish was rather less violent; 
we hauled upon the net again, in which it was still 
entangled, and got another fifty fathoms of line made 
fast to the saw, and attempted to haul it towards the 
shore; but, although mustering thirty hands, we could 
not move it an inch. By this time the negroes be- 
longing to Mr. Danglad's estate came flocking to our 
assistance, making together Avith the Spaniards about 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 209 

one hundred in number: we then hauled on both 
ropes for nearly the whole of the day, before the 
fish became exhausted. On endeavouring to raise 
the fish it became most desperate, sweeping with its 
saw from side to side, so that we were compelled to 
get strong guy-ropes to prevent it from cutting us to 
pieces. After that, one of the Spaniards got on its 
back, and at great risk cut through the joint of the 
tail, when animation was completely suspended: it 
was then measured, and found to be 22 feet long 
and 8 feet broad, and weighed nearly 5 tons."* 

Other monstrous creatures, of unpleasing forms 
and formidable powers, rove at will through these 
waters. I shall mention only the Horned Eay 
{Cephaloptera). Imagine a Thornback or Skate, of 
the length of twenty-five feet, with the side-fins 
greatly lengthened out, so as to make the total width 
upwards of thirty feet: these side-fins, instead of 
meeting in a point in front of the head, projecting on 
each side into a curved point, like a horn. Such is 
the Cephaloptera ; and it is powerful and voracious 
in proportion to its size. Col. Hamilton Smith, in the 
neighbourhood of Trinidad, had the pain of witness- 
ing a fellow-creature involved in the horrible embrace 
of one of these monsters. It was at early dawn that 
a soldier was endeavouring to desert from the ship by 
swimming on shore. A sailor from aloft, seeing the 
approach of one of these terrific fishes, alarmed the 
swimmer, who endeavoured to return; but, in sight 
of his comrades, was presently overtaken, the crea- 
ture throwing over him one of its huge fins, and thus 

« Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 519. 
14 s2 



210 THE OCEAN. 

carrying him down. In the following record, which 
was inserted in a late Barbadoes paper, though the 
description is not drawn np exactly as a Naturalist 
would have done it, one has no difficulty in recognis- 
ing an enormous Cephaloptera : — " On the 22nd of 
August [1843], the Brig Eowena was lying in La 
Guayra Eoads, the weather perfectly calm : I disco- 
vered the vessel moving about among the shipping. 
I could not conceive what could be the matter. I 
gave orders to heave in, and see if the anchor was 
gone, but it was not : but to my surprise, I found a 
tremendous monster entangled fast in the buoy-rope, 
and moving the anchor slowly along the bottom. I 
then had the fish towed on shore. It was of a flat- 
tish shape, something like a devil-fish^ but very 
curious shape, being wider than it was long, and 
having two tusks, one on each side of the mouth, 
and a very small tail in proportion to the fish, and 
exactly like a bat's tail. The tail can be seen on 
board the Brig Eowena. Dimensions of the fish 
were as follows : — length from end of tail to end of 
tusks, 18 feet; from wing to wing, 20 feet; the 
mouth, 4 feet wide ; and its weight, 3502 lbs." 

Every one may imagine how much the tedium of 
a long voyage is relieved by the company of other 
vessels, or even by the speaking of a passing ship ; 
but a few who have only seen vessels lying in tiers, 
side by side, at quays, or wharfs, are at all aware of, 
or can readily understand, the anxious care with 
which commanders guard against two ships on the 
high sea coming within even a considerable distance 
of each other. I have often been amused by hearing 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 211 

the wishes expressed by passengers on their first 
voyage, when a vessel is speaking at what they think 
a most uncivil distance, that she would but come 
nearer, particularly if the wind is light, as "there 
can be no danger then." Little do they think that 
when in a perfect calm the danger of contact is even 
greatest, as, if there be wind enough to give the ves- 
sel "steerage way/' she is under control, and the 
evil may be avoided. On this subject, and on the 
motions of ships in calms, an unexceptionable autho- 
rity, Captain Basil Hall, thus speaks : — 

" How it happens I do not know, but on occasions 
of perfect calm, or such as appear to be perfect calm, 
the ships of a fleet generally drift away from one 
another, so that, at the end of a few hours, the whole 
circle bounded by the horizon is speckled over with 
these unmanageable hulks, as they may for the time 
be considered. It will occasionally happen, indeed, 
that two ships draw so near in a calm as to incur 
some risk of falling on board one another. I need 
scarcely mention that even in the smoothest water 
ever found in the open sea, two large ships coming 
into actual contact must prove a formidable encounter. 
As long as they are apart, their gentle and rather 
graceful movements are "fit subjects of admiration; 
and I have often seen people gaze for an hour at a 
time at the ships of a becalmed fleet, slowly twisting 
round, changing their position, and rolling from side 
to side as silently as if they had been in harbour, or 
accompanied only by the faint rippling sound trip- 
ping along the water-line, as the copper below the 
lends alternately sunk into the sea, or rose out of it, 



212 THE OCEAN. 

dripping wet, and shining as bright and clean as a 
new coin, from the constant friction of the Ocean 
during the previous rapid passage across the Trade- 
winds. 

"But all this picturesque admiration changes to 
alarm when ships come so close as to risk a contact ; 
for these motions, which appear so slow and gentle 
to the eye, are irresistible in their force ; and as the 
chances are against the two vessels moving exactly in 
the same direction at the same moment, they must 
speedily grind or tear one another to pieces. Sup- 
posing them to come in contact side by side, the first 
roll would probably tear away the fore and main 
channels of both ships; the next roll, by interlacing 
the lower yards, and entangling the spars of one ship 
with the shrouds and backstays of the other, would, 
in all likelihood, bring down all three masts of both 
ships, not piecemeal, as the poet hath it, but in one 
furious crash. Beneath the ruins of the spars, the 
coils of rigging, and the enormous folds of canvas, 
might lie crushed many of the best hands, who, from 
being always the foremost to spring forward in such 
seasons of danger, are surest to be sacrificed. After 
this first catastrophe, the ships would probably drift 
away from one another for a little while, only to 
tumble together again and again, till they had ground 
one another to the water's edge, and one, or both of 
them, would fill, and go down. In such encounters 
it is impossible to stop the mischief; and oak and 
iron break and crumble in pieces like sealing-wax 
and pie- crust. Many instances of such accidents are 
on record, but I never witnessed one. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 213 

"To prevent these frightful rencontres, care is 
always taken to hoist out the boats in good time, 
if need be, to tow the ships apart, or, what is gene- 
rally sufficient, to tow the ships' heads in opposite 
directions. I scarcely know why this should have 
the effect; but certainly it appears that, be the calm 
ever so complete, or dead^ as the term is, a vessel 
generally forges ahead^ or steals along imperceptibly 
in the direction she is looking to ; possibly from the 
conformation of the hull."* 

But there are indications of our patience being 
at length rewarded by a breeze from the eastward; 
and now it comes, rippling the surface as it ap- 
proaches., turning that into a deep uniform blue 
which has so long borne a glassy brightness reflected 
from the sky. The seamen are joyous and alert, 
for they know that this is no "cat's-paw," but the 
"regular trade." Now it strikes the ship; the 
sails, gracefully swelling, receive the unwonted im- 
pulse; and the lengthened wake, where the water 
coils and frets in the newly-cut furrow, tells that 
the vessel makes way once more. The breeze 
freshens; the little waves become larger, and, arch- 
ing over each other, break with patches of whiten- 
ing foam ; every sail is speedily set that will draw ; 
and we run gaily along towards the west, under an 
eight-knot breeze. "We can scarcely stop to notice 
the amity that subsists betv/een the Shark and the 
Pilot-fish {JSfaucrates ductor\ a beautiful little crea- 
ture, about the size of a herring, the back striped 
transversely with broad alternate bands of brown and 

* Frag. Voy. and Trav. 2nd Series, i. p. 226. 



214 THE OCEAN. 

bright azure; nor tlie three or four pretty little 
Eudder-fishes {Perca saltatrix^ Linn.), which have 
been following and accompanying ns for several 
days past. These are amusing little creatures. They 
are about six inches long, yellowish brown, with 
pale spots: they keep close to the stern, in the angle 
formed by the rudder and the counter of the ship, 
the "dead water,'' as it is called by seamen. Hence 
they occasionally dart out after any little atom of 
floating or sinking substance which promises to be 
eatable, and then, having -either seized or rejected it, 
scuttle back again to their corner, remaining there 
day and night without rest. Nor can we do more 
than glance at the Sucking-fishes {Echeneis\ that 
are swimming around, or have attached themselves 
to the side of the rudder by means of the singular 
oval disk on the head. As this organ is of singular 
construction, so its use in the economy of the animal 
is involved in entire obscurity. The theory of the 
fish being a very slow swimmer, and needing to be 
carried along by others, must have been formed by 
persons who never had an opportunity of seeing the 
Eemora alive. I have seen many, and could detect 
no inferiority in their powers of swimming to a 
young Shark of the same size, which they much re- 
semble in general appearance and motion, when in 
the water. There seems to be a perfect vacuum 
formed by the adhesion of the disk, and the external 
pressure, when under water, is of course great. As 
the mouth opens upon the upper surface of the muz- 
zle, owing to the projection of the lower jaw, it 
is possible that this habit may be connected with 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 215 

taking food : there are many little creatures, sucli 
as Crustacea^ Barnacles, &c., that are parasitical on 
the bodies of marine animals, or attach themselves 
to any submerged substance. If the Echeneis feeds 
on these, there is an obvious reason why the head 
should be iiffixed to the surface during the dislodg- 
ment of the adhering prey, in order to acquire 
greater steadiness, as well as a leverage by which 
to act more effectively. _ At all events, we know 
that it is not a useless habit; we trace enough 
of manifest design and contrivance in what we do 
know of the animal creation, to warrant our con- 
fident conclusion, when we find any instinct, the 
intention of which is not obvious, that it also is 
the production of infinite wisdom and goodness, 
and that it could not have been spared without 
injury to the animal. 

Borne on the wings of the welcome breeze, we 
rapidly approach that archipelago of lovely islands 
that gladdened the heart and rewarded the zeal of 
the chivalric World- findek, the first fruits of the 
vast continent which the genius and daring of one 
master-mind opened to astonished Europe. The 
joyful sound of " Land in sight !" resounds through 
the ship, and yonder, upon the bow,, is discovered, 
rising out of the blue sea, the beautiful island of 
Antigua. As we draw near, we are struck with its 
loveliness ; the coast is low, but the land rises behind 
into rounded hills of moderate elevation, whose 
swelling eminences and gentle slopes assume some- 
what of the appearance of the chalk hills and downs 
of our own sweet England. But there are features 



216 THE OCEAN. 

which, effectually distinguish this island from our 
own, and fail not to remind us that we are beholdino- 
the gorgeousness of the tropics. The summits of 
the hills are clothed with magnificent forest- trees of 
strange forms and foliage ; the graceful palms wave 
their feathery crowns against the deep-blue sky: 
leafless cacti, thick and cylindrical, project from the 
rocks, or take the shape of enormous candelabra: the 
great American aloe, with its thick and spiny leaves, 
shoots up its glorious head of yellow blossoms to the 
height of twenty feet : the clusters of golden fruit 
depend from the plantain and banana, whose gigantic 
fronds are cut by the winds into ragged segments ; 
while the whole array is bound and matted together 
by strong rope-like climbing plants, which, crossing 
each other in every direction, and twisting around the 
forest-trees, and around each other, like huge cables, 
present an immense net of vegetation, impenetrable 
except by the axe of the woodman. Tree-ferns, 
possessing all the grace and elegance of those with 
which we are familiar, but growing to a giant size, 
shoot up from the clefts of the rocks, or from the- 
branches of the loftier trees, their rich brown stalks 
contrasting with the vivid green of their fan-shaped 
fronds. The sides of the hills are clothed with lux- 
uriant plantations of Indian corn, or the still more 
rich and beautiful sugar-cane ; and here and there 
a walk of cocoa-trees is rendered conspicuous by the 
glowing scarlet blossoms of the coral trees, by whose 
shadow they are sheltered from the vertical sun. 
The coast is broken into numerous little bays and 
coves, some penetrating far into the island, like 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 217 

canals among tlie plantations. A multitude of little 
islets are scattered around on the surface of the sea, 
on many of which the cattle are grazing on the rich 
and succulent pasture. Some of them, however, 
are little more than accumulations of sand, formed 
of powdered coral and sea-shells, and affording sup- 
port only to some coarse sedges, and to mangrove- 
trees. The latter, indeed, delights in such situa- 
tions, flourishing at the very edge of the sea, and 
even where the ground is continually liable to 
inundation. The contorted roots of this tree grow 
to a considerable extent above the soil, so that the 
base of the trunk is elevated on a cone of matted 
roots, through which the water washes, while from 
the branches young twigs are perpetually shooting 
downward, till, reaching the soil, they take root, 
and send forth other shoots : thus, in a few years, 
a single plant will spread into a grove, and cover 
a large space of land. As we sail with tortuous 
course through these delightful groups of ever- 
verdant isles, fresh scenes of beauty are continually 
rising before us. Now a conical hill, of regular 
form, arrests the attention, clothed with thick foliage 
from the water's edge to the summit, where the white 
clouds appear to rest: then we admire the irregular 
surface of another isle, whose dark ravines seem 
to acquire additional gloom from the glowing sun- 
light that plays upon the surrounding eminences: 
here a little islet of bright green looks in the blu^ 
sea like an emerald set in sapphire; there the bold 
cliffs and black precipices of a larger island an- 
nounce a very different formation. Now and then 



218 THE OCEAN". 

we open a small but deep and beautiful bay. "A 
pretty little village or plantation appears at the 
bottom of the cove : the sandy beach stretches like 
a line of silver round the blue water, and the cane- 
fields form a broad belt of vivid green in the back- 
ground. Behind this, the mountains rise in the 
most fantastic shapes, here cloven into deep chasms, 
there darting into arrowy points, and every where 
shrouded; and swathed, as it were, in wood, which 
the hand of man will probably never lay low. The 
clouds, which within the tropics are infallibly at- 
tracted by any woody eminences, contribute greatly 
to the wildness of the scene: sometimes they are 
so dense as to bury the mountains in darkness, at 
other times they float transparently like a silken 
veil; frequently the flaws from the gulleys perforate 
the vapours, and make windows in the smoky mass; 
and then, again, the wind and the sun will cause the 
whole to be drawn upwards majestically, like the 
curtain of a gorgeous theatre." 

Around these islands the water is frequently shal- 
low, a fact made sufficiently obvious by its colour: 
instead of the deep-blue tint which marks the un- 
fathomed Ocean, the water on these shoals becomes 
of a bright pea-green, caused by the nearness of 
the yellow sands at the bottom; and the shallower 
the water, the paler is the tint. The light thrown 
upwards by reflection upon the under part of the 
swollen sails, transfers the same hue to them, giving 
them a singular aspect; but once I observed a still 
more curious appearance, arising from the same 
cause. Being becalmed off one of the little Keys 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 219 

of the Florida Eeef, the crew liad been amusing 
themselves with fishing, in which thej had been 
very successful. An Osprey {Haliceetus ossifragus\ 
attracted, doubtless, by the fish that lay in profu- 
sion about the decks, was slowly sailing around, 
occasionally alighting on the ropes and spars. As 
he hovered overhead, turning his head from side to 
side, every feather was distinctly seen; but from 
the reflection of the water beneath, all his under 
parts, which are pure white, appeared of a fine pea- 
green, and it was only on catching a side-glance at 
him, that I discovered his true colour, and identified 
the species. It is very pleasing to peer down into 
the varying depths, especially in the clear waters of 
these seas, and look at the many-coloured bottom; 
sometimes a bright pearly sand, spotted with shells 
and corals ; then a large patch of brown rock, whose 
gaping clefts and fissures are but half hidden by the 
waving tangles of purple weed ; where multitudes of 
strange creatures revel and riot undisturbed. 



"Come down, come down from the tall ship's side; 
What a marvellous sight is here ! 
Look ! purple rocks and crimson trees, 
Down in the deep so clear ! 

"See! where those shoals of dolphins go, 
A glad and glorious band ; 
Sporting amidst the day-bright woods 
Of a coral fairy land. 

"See ! on the violet sands beneath, 
How the gorgeous shells do glide ! 
sea ! old sea ! who yet knows half 
Of thy wonders and thy pride? 



220 THE OCEAN. 

" Look, how the sea-plants trembling float, 
All like a mermaid's locks, 
"Waving in thread of ruby red, 
Over those nether rocks ! 

" Heaving and sinking, soft and fair. 
Here hyacinth — there green, — 
With many a stem of golden growth, 
And starry flowers between. 

" But away ! away ! to upper day ! 
For monstrous shapes are here ; 
Monsters of dark and wallowing bulk, 
And horny eyeballs drear : 

"The tusked mouth and the spiny fin. 
Speckled and warted back. 
The glittering swift and flabby slow. 
Ramp through this deep sea track. 

" Away ! away ! to upper day ! 

To glance o'er the breezy brine. 
And see the nautilus gladly sail, 
The flying-fish leap and shine !'* 

While pursuing our pleasant course amidst these 
sandy keys, we may often observe the Green Turtle 
{Chehnia mydas) swimming or floating at the sur- 
face. In general it is difficult to approach them 
within less than a few yards, as they are very wary, 
and dive with great rapidity. The shoals and reefs 
surrounding the islands, where the sun penetrates 
and warms the water, are favourite resorts of these 
marine Beptilia; and here, too, grow in abundance 
the sea- plants (Zostera, &c.) on which they feed. 
At night, the females land on the low sandy beaches, 
and after examining the place with great caution 
and circumspection, lay their eggs in holes, which 
they scoop out with their fin-like feet. The work 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 221 

being accomplished, the sand is again scraped back 
over the eggs, and the surface made smooth as before. 
The sun soon hatches the eggs, and the little Turtles 
crawling forth from the sand, betake themselves to 
the sea. The usefulness of this animal as an article 
of luxurious food is well known ; but its real value 
can only be appreciated, when we view it as afford- 
ing an immediate relief from the horrors of scurvy, 
which, arising from the constant use of salted pro- 
visions, has often proved so terrible a scourge in 
long voyages. There is a peculiarity in the struc- 
ture of the heart of this and kindred animals, which 
is worthy of notice. In man and other warm-blooded 
animals, the blood is brought by the veins to the 
heart, and poured into a chamber called the right 
aitricle ; a communication exists between this and 
a second chamber, called the right ventricle; from 
the latter the blood is forced through a large ar- 
tery to the lungs, to be renewed by exposure to the 
air; from the lungs it is sent through veins to a 
third chamber of the heart, called the left auricle^ 
and thence into a fourth, called the left ventricle^ 
from which the great artery, called the aorta^ carries 
it again into the whole body. Thus, no particle of 
the blood can be conveyed again into the system 
without having passed through the lungs ; but in the 
Turtle the case is different. All the four cham- 
bers of the heart are present, but there is a commu- 
nication open between the left and right ventricles ; 
and the aorta and pulmonary artery both originate 
from the right ventricle. In consequence, a part 
only of the blood is sent thence to the lungs, which, 

t2 



222 THE OCEAN. 

returning tlirougTi the left auricle and ventricle^ is 
thrown into the right ventricle^ and mixed with that 
which is just brought from the body ; the mixed 
blood being partly returned to the body through the 
aorta, and partly sent to the lungs. But this is the 
course only when the animal is breathing ; and as a 
large part of its life is passed under water, this con- 
trivance enables the circulation to go on under cir- 
cumstances when breathing necessarily ceases. For 
if no air enters the lungs, the blood cannot pass 
through them ; therefore, when under water, the 
blood passing through the right auricle and ventricle^ 
is immediately sent by the aorta into the body with- 
out any exposure to the air. Of course, as the blood 
thus unrenewed would become more and more im- 
pure, this could not proceed very long without loss 
of life, and hence there is a limit to the period 
during which the breathing may be suspended, when 
the animal must come to the surface or die. 

Many of the fishes of these seas partake of the 
brilliancy of colour with which the birds and insects 
of the same sunny region are so lavishly adorned. 
I have seen some of great beauty readily captured 
with a hook from the deck of a vessel in shallow 
water ; — such as the Yellow-fin {Sparus synagris^ 
Link), which has its body marked with longitudinal 
bands of delicate pink and yellow alternately; the 
fins are bright yellow, and the tail fine pale crimson. 
A larger species, which the seamen denominated the 
Market-fish {Labrus anthias^ L.), is all over of a 
silvery tint with a ruddy glow, the fins and tail 
bright crimson ; this species has very large scales. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 223 

Then there is the Hog-fish {Lahrus flavus^ L. ?), of 
singular beanty, shaped somewhat like a perch, with 
silvery grey scales ; the head marked all over with 
streaks of brilliant violet blue, fantastically arranged, 
somewhat like the stripes upon the head of the 
Zebra. Still, however, even here there is some 
deformity ; at least, every thing does not accord with 
our habitual ideas of comeliness ; these beauties are 
set off, as by a foil, by the visage of the Cat-fish 
{Silurus catus\ a creature of remarkably hideous 
aspect, but which is esteemed as food. 

In some of the quiet nooks and sheltered bays 
of these lovely islands, where the vegetation is green 
and luxuriant to the water's edge, we may catch 
a sight of a herd of Manatees, or Sea- Cows. These 
animals are usually classed with the Whales, but 
they seem, indeed, to be much more intimately con- 
nected with the Pachydermata^ an order that con- 
tains the Elephant and Hippopotamus. The form is 
long and tapering, but plump, and has been com- 
pared to that of a filled wine-skin or leather bottle. 
The hinder feet are altogether wanting, but the fore 
limbs assume the appearance of broad flat fins or 
flippers, the fingers of which are not separated ex- 
ternally, but can be distinctly felt through the skin ; 
and the nails or claws by which the paw is termi- 
nated, sufficiently indicate their presence. These 
creatures are perfectly inoffensive in their manners, 
timid, and retiring ; they delight in secluded places, 
shallow creeks, and particularly the mouths of the 
great South American rivers, often proceeding many 
miles up the country. For such situations they are 



224 THE OCEAN. 

peculiarly adapted; the broad valleys of these re- 
gions, parched up to barrenness in the dry season, 
and then inundated, so as to resemble seas during 
the periodical rains, would not be suited to the capa- 
cities of a terrestrial ruminant; but the aquatic 
habits of the Manatee enable it to avail itself of the 
rich and abundant vegetation of the waterj^ expanse, 
as well as to range the coast when it is parched up 
by the returning drought. Being exclusively her- 
bivorous, the flesh is highly esteemed ; its flavour is 
thought to resemble that of excellent pork, though 
by some it has been rather compared to beef Hunt- 
ing this animal is a favourite amusement in the 
countries of its resort; a party proceed in a small 
boat to its haunt, furnished with a harpoon, to 
which is attached a stout line; when the weapon 
is infixed, the creature dives; in the meanwhile the 
boat is rowed ashore, and the Manatee, exhausted 
by its efforts to escape, is drawn on land by the 
cord, and despatched. Many of its habits are ex- 
ceedingly interesting: it is fond of sporting in the 
water, and leaping from the surface in the manner 
of the true Cetacea. Such is the attachment evinced 
by these animals for each other, that it is said, when 
one is harpooned, the rest of the herd will assemble, 
and endeavour to drag out the harpoon with their 
teeth. When basking on the shore, the young are 
collected into the centre of the group for protec- 
tion, and if a calf has been killed, the mother will 
suffer herself to be secured without effort ; while, 
on the other hand, if the dam be taken, the young 
will follow the boat to the shore. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



When the astonislimg sagacity and enterprise of 
the Genoese had discovered the confines of a new 
world across the trackless Atlantic, it was without 
hesitation concluded, not only by himself, but by 
all Europe, that the new land formed the extreme 
eastern shore of Asia; and hence the name of Indies, 
by this mistake, was given to these islands, which 
has been perpetuated even to the present time. 
Aware of the round form of the earth, the geogra- 
phers of that age could well conceive the possibility 
of reaching India by a westerly course; but, igno- 
rant of the magnitude of the globe, they had formed 
a very inadequate idea of its existence, being totally 
unaware of the vast continent, and still vaster ocean, 
which separated Asia from the Atlantic. But as, 
impelled by an insatiable thirst for gold, the unprin- 
cipled Spaniards pushed their career of robbery and 
murder farther and farther into the continent, they 
began to hear tidings of a boundless sea, which 
stretched away to the south and west, beyond the 
horizon of the setting sun. Balboa, one of the reck- 
less spirits who sought fortune and fame at all ha- 
zards in the newly -found regions, boldly determined 
to seek the sea of which the Indians spake. At the 
head of a little band of men, guided by a Mexican, 

15 (225) 



226 



THE OCEAN. 



he succeeded, after severe privations and imminent 
dangers, in crossing the isthmus that connects the 
northern and southern portions of the continent. 
They had arrived at the foot of a hill, from the top 
of which the Indian assured him he would obtain a 
sight of the wished-for sea ; when in the enthusiasm 




Balboa discovers the Pacific. 



of the moment, leaving his companions behind, the 
Spanish chief ran to the summit, and beheld a limit- 
less Ocean sleeping in its immensity at his feet. 
With the spurious piety common to the times — a 
piety that could consist with the grossest injustice, 
the blackest perjury, and the most barbarous cruelty, 
— he knelt down and gave thanks aloud to God for 
such a termination of his toils ; then having descend- 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 22t 

ed the cliffs to the shore of the Ocean, he bathed 
in its mighty waters, taking possession of it by the 
name of the Great South Sea, on behalf of the King 
of Spain. This was in the year 1513 ; but it was 
not till seven years afterwards that its surface was 
ruffled by a European keel. Then Magalhaens or 
Magellan, a Portuguese navigator of great ability, 
in the service of Spain, having run down the coast 
of South America, discovered the straits which have 
since borne his name, through which he sailed, and 
emerging from them on the 28th November, 1520, 
first launched out upon the broad bosom of the 
South Sea. For three months and twenty days he 
sailed across it, during which long period its surface 
was never ruffled by a storm ; and from this circum- 
stance he gave to the Ocean the appellation of the 
Pacific, which it still retains. The immediate vici- 
nity of the Straits, however, has been considered 
peculiarly subject to tempests ; while the almost con- 
tinual prevalence of westerly winds, joined to the 
severity of the climate, has always given a character 
of difficulty and hazard to the passage from the one 
Ocean to the other. 

In approaching the extreme point of South Ame- 
rica, navigators have been struck with the extraor- 
dinary size of a floating sea-weed, the Macrocystes 
jpyrifera of botanists. It consists of a smooth round 
stem, commonly from 500 to 1000 feet in length: 
Poster mentions one which was 800 feet, and some 
specimens are reported even to attain the enormous 
dimensions of 1500 feet. Prom the stem grow a 
great number of pear-shaped air-vessels, which end 



228 THE OCEAN. 

in long, flat, wrinkled fronds of a semi-transparent 
brown hue. I have already spoken of the Gulf- weed 
(Sargassum vulgare\ as being met with in particular 
parts of the Altantic: similar collections of it occur 
also in these and other seas, and much mystery 
seems to lie about its origin and mode of growth. 
From specimens having been found with roots, it 
appears certain that in a living state it is attached 
to the bottom, whence it is not impossible that it 
may be detached spontaneously at a certain period 
of its growth, that the seed-vessels may be perfected 
by exposure to light and air. Near the shores sea- 
weeds are found so uniformly growing to rocks as 
to form a very valuable indication of the presence 
of hidden dangers. These appear to be chiefly of 
the former kind. 

To these remote and inhospitable seas many ves- 
sels are annually despatched from this country, as 
well as from the United States, in pursuit of various 
species of Seals, and of the Sperm Whale. To obtain 
the former, they resort to any of the small islands 
which are scattered over the southern part of the 
Atlantic and Pacific, but particularly those which lie 
around Cape Horn. These animals yield two valu- 
able products, oil and fur; but not indiscriminately, 
the oil being afforded by the Elephant Seal {Macro- 
rliinus proboscideus\ a singular animal, of large size; 
being often seen thirty feet long, and eighteen round 
at the thickest part. A very remarkable formation 
of the snout has given the distinctive name to this 
sjoecies. At a certain season of the year, in the 
adult males, the skin of the tip of the nose, which 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 229 

covers a number of cells ordinarily empty, becomes 
enlarged and lengthened by the blood that the ani- 
mal has the power of forcing into the cells. This 
projection is now a foot in length; but it appears 
to be nothing more than a mere appendage, some- 
what resembling, in more respects than one, the 
fleshy wattle on the head of the turkey, which can 
be similarly inflated. In the spring — that is, in these 
latitudes, the months of August and September — 
the Elephant Seals betake themselves to the rocky 
shores in large herds: at this time they are exceed- 
ingly fat, and a single male will sometimes yield a 
butt of oil. They remain on shore until the middle 
of summer, when the young, which have been born 
in the mean time, are fit to take the water and pro- 
vide for themselves. As the old ones have taken no 
food during the whole of this period, they are become 
very lean and weak, but soon recruit their powers. 
Though furnished with large and powerful tusks, 
and endowed with sufficient strength to use them, 
the Sea-Elephant is a most mild and inoffensive 
creature, suffering the seamen not only to walk 
among them uninjured, but even to bathe in the 
midst of the herd when swimming, with perfect im- 
punity. In self-defence, however, or in defence of 
their young, their resistance becomes formidable. 
One of Anson's men, having killed a young one, had 
the cruelty and rashness to skin it in the presence of 
its mother: but she, coming behind him, got the 
sailor's head into her mouth, and so scored and 
notched his skull with her sharp teeth, that he died 

in a day or two afterwards. 

u 



230 



THE OCEAN. 



Among themselves, however, the males are accus- 
tomed to fight at certain periods with great fero- 
city. "Their mode of battle is very singular. The 
two rival giant knights waddle heavily along; they 
meet and join snout to snout; they then raise the 



-v. 


Eh^ezS^ 


1 ''" 




' 'l 




:k^' ' 




m^L 


^^^p 




Elephant Seals, Fighting. 



fore part of the body as far as the fore paws, and 
open their immense mouths ; their eyes are inflamed 
with rage, and they dash against each other with the 
greatest violence in their power: now they tumble 
one over the other; teeth crash with teeth, and jaws 
with jaws; they wound each other deeply, some- 
times knocking out each other's eyes, and more fre- 
quently their tusks; the blood flows abundantly; 
but these raging foes, without ever seeming to ob- 
serve it, prosecute the combat till their strength is 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 231 

completely exhausted. It is seldom that either is 
left dead on the field, and the wounds they inflict, 
however deep, heal with inconceivable rapidity. The 
object of these encounters is to obtain the lordship 
of a herd of females, by which a male is always 
accompanied, and over which he rules with undi- 
vided empire." 

While on land, the motions of these animals are 
slow and unwieldy, and apparently productive of 
much fatigue. Their gait is described as singular : 
as they crawl along, the vast body trembles like a 
great bag of jelly, owing to the mass of blubber by 
which the whole animal is invested, and which is 
as thick as it is in a whale. After having proceeded 
thus for fifteen or twenty yards, they halt to rest ; 
and if forced to go forward by repeated blows, their 
appearance presently manifests the distress to which 
they are subjected by the increased exertion. It is 
remarkable that, in these circumstances, the pupil 
of the eye, which ordinarily is bluish-green, becomes 
blood-red. They do not, therefore, commonly wan- 
der far from the sea, but generally choose low sandy 
shores, or the mouths of rivers, for their haunts; 
though they have been known to ascend hills of 
twenty feet elevation, in search of some pools of 
water. They appear to be incommoded by the 
direct beams of the sun ; and, to shelter themselves 
from its influence, they have the habit of scooping 
up the wet sand with their forepaws, and throwing 
it over their bodies, until they are entirely enveloped 
by it. 

It is for the oil which is produced by this species 



232 THE OCEAN. 

of Seal that many vessels are sent to the islands of 
the Pacific, and to the icy regions of the Antarctic 
Ocean. Its skin, though serviceable as leather for 
harness, &c., yields no fur, being clothed only with 
coarse hair. The oil, however, is of a very superior 
quality ; it is clear and limpid, without any smell, 
and never becomes rancid ; it burns slowly, and 
without smoke or disagreeable odour. The hunters 
destroy the animals with long lances : watching the 
instant when the Seal raises the left forepaw to ad- 
vance, they plunge the lance into its heart, when it 
immediately dies. The fat is then peeled from the 
carcass, and cut up and packed in casks in a similar 
manner to that of the Whale. 

The soft yellow fur, with a changeable gloss, which 
a few years ago was so much made into caps, is 
another product of a South Sea voyage. It is the 
covering of more than one species of Seal, belonging 
to a tribe called Otaries, because their heads are 
furnished with external ears, of which the others 
are deprived. That which is by eminence called the 
Fur-Seal {Otaria Falklandico)^ is clothed externally 
with long hair of a grey hue ; but when this hair is 
pulled out, there is seen a thick fur of great soft- 
ness, curly or wavy, and of a fine yellowish brown. 
The habits of this animal are in general similar to 
those of the Sea-Elephant just described: it is, how- 
ever, much more active on land, often escaping from 
a man running. Its history affords as an instance of 
change of instincts produced by experience. "When 
the Seals of South Shetland were first visited, they 
had no apprehension of danger from man ; but would 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 238 

unsuspectingly remain while their fellows were slain 
and skinned; but latterly they have learned to 
guard against the new dangers, by placing them- 
selves on insulated rocks, from which they can in 
a moment throw themselves into the water. "VYe 
may form a notion of the zeal with which this com- 
mercial enterprise was prosecuted, as well as of its 
valuable character, if it had been pursued with pru- 
dent restrictions, from the fact that in the years 
1821 and 1822, there were taken from the South 
Shetland Isles, 320,000 skins of Fur-Seals, and 940 
tuns of Sea-Elephant oil. The former valuable ani- 
mal might, by proper precautions, have been made 
to produce 100,000 skins annually, for a long time 
to come. "This would have followed from not 
killing the mothers till the young were able to take 
the water ; and even then, only those which appeared 
to be old, together with a proportion of the males, 
thereby diminishing their total number, but in slow 
progression. The system of extermination was prac- 
tised, however, at South Shetland ; for whenever a 
Seal reached the beach, of whatever denomination, 
he was immediately killed and his skin taken ; and 
by this means, at the end of the second year, the 
animals became nearly extinct ; the young, having 
lost their mothers when only three or four days old, 
of course all died, which, at the lowest calculation, 
exceeded 100,000."-^ 

Other species of Otaries, which frequent these 
seas, have large heads, clothed with long shaggy hair, 



* Weddell's Voyage, p. 141. 
u2 



234 THE OCEAN. 

which, falling down on the neck, assumes the ap- 
pearance of a mane, and hence they are frequently 
called Sea-lions. Of some of these animals which 
Captain Cook met with, he says : " It is not at all 
dangerous to go among them, for they either fled 
or lay still. . The only danger was in going between 
them and the sea: for if they took fright at any 
thing, they would come down in such numbers, that 
if 3^ou could not get out of their way, you would be 
run over. When we came suddenly upon them, or 
waked them out of their sleep (for they are sluggish, 
sleepy animals), they would raise up their heads, 
snort and snarl, and look fierce, as if they meant to 
devour us; but as we advanced upon them, they 
always ran away, so that they are downright bullies." 
Like the Sea-Elephant, however, they are quarrel- 
some among themselves. They 'often seize each 
other with a degree of rage which is not to be de- 
scribed ; and many of them are seen with deep gashes 
on their backs, which they had received in these 
wars. Others of the eared Seals are fierce and fear- 
less towards man himself. Woodes Kogers describes 
one which he met with at the Galapagos, which he 
calls a Sea-bear, probably of a species ( Otaria ur- 
sina) common in the seas of which I am speaking. 
lie says, "A very large one made at me three 
several times; and if I had not happened to have 
a pikestaff headed with iron, he might have killed 
me. I was on the level sand when he came 
open-mouthed at me fron the water, as fierce and 
quick as an angry dog let loose. All the three times 
he made at me, I struck the pike into his breast, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 235 

whicb. at last forced him to retire into the water, 



snarling with an ngly noise, and showing his long 
teeth."^ 

Dividing the dominion of these inhospitable islands 
with the Seals, may be seen myriads of Penguins ; 
curious birds, which seem to be the link which con- 
nects the feathered with the finny race. Their 
little wings, destitute of quills, but covered with stiff 
scaly feathers, hang down by their sides, perfectly 
incompetent to lift them from, the ground, resem- 
bling in shape the fins of a fish, or still more the 
flippers of a turtle. But see the Penguin in the 
water ; the deficiency of flight is abundantly com- 
pensated by the power and agility it possesses in 
this element: it dashes along over the surface in 
gallant style, or diving, shoots through the water 
with the rapidity of a fish, urging its course by the 
united action of its finny wings and its broad 
webbed feet; then, coming again to the top, leaps 
over any obstacle in its course, many feet at a bound, 
and pursues its way. On the sandy shores or flat 
rocks in the Southern Ocean, the Penguins, of several 
species, assemble in innumerable multitudes, for the 
purpose of hatching their eggs and rearing their 
young. The feet are placed very far back on the 
body, so that the bird assumes an erect position when 
resting or walking on land ; and from their posture, 
their colours, their numbers, and their orderly ar- 
rangement, they have been compared, when seen at a 
distance, to an army of disciplined soldiers. One voy- 
ager likens them to a troop of little children standing 

* Kerr's Voyages, x. 374. 



236 THE OCEAN. 

up in white aprons, from their white bellies contrast- 
ing with their blue backs. The presence of these 
birds is described as greatly increasing the dreary 
character of these desolate regions ; their perfect 
indifference to man conveying an almost awful im- 
pression of their loneliness. The intrusion of sea- 
men even into the very midst of them causes no 
alarm; no resistance is offered, no escape is attempted; 
the birds immediately gaze around with a sidelong 
glance at the visitors, but they move not from their 
eggs, standing quietly while their companions are 
one by one knocked on the head, and waiting with- 
out dread till their own turn comes. We can scarcely 
form an adequate idea of one of these camps or 
townSy as they have been appropriately called. A 
space of ground, covering three or four acres, is laid 
out and levelled, and then divided into squares for 
the nests, as accurately as if done by a surveyor : 
between these compartments they march and coun- 
termarch with an order and regularity that remind 
one of soldiers on parade. But what shall we say to 
a colony of these birds, the King Penguin {Apteno- 
dytes patachonica\ which was seen by Mr. G. Ben- 
nett, on Macquarie Island? It covered thirty or 
forty acres ; and though no conjecture could possibly 
be formed of the number of birds composing the 
town, yet some notion of its amazing amount may 
be given from the fact, that during the whole day 
and night 30,000 or 40,000 are continually landing, 
and as many going to sea. There are three principal 
species, which inhabit the southern portion of the 
globe, which bear great resemblance to each other 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



2S1 



in manners, and generally are found in company. 
These are the one just mentioned, the Crested Pen- 
guin {A. chrysocome), and the Jackass Penguin {A. 
demersa). The latter has obtained its title from its 
nightly habit of emitting discordant sounds, which 







Penguins. 



have been likened to the effusions of our humble 
sonorous friend of the common. This species seems 
to deviate from the general manner of breeding, as 
it burrows on the sandy hills, and is more sensible 
of injury tban its fellows. For Forster describes the 
ground as every where so much bored, that a person 



238 THE OCEAN. 

in walking often sinks up to the knees; and if the 
Penguin chance to be in her hole, she revenges her- 
self on the passenger by fastening on his legs, which 
she bites very hard. 

The following notices of these singular birds, by 
those who have seen them in their haunts, are inte- 
resting, as illustrative of their economy: — "One day," 
says Mr. Darwin, "having placed myself between 
a Penguin and the water, I was much amused by 
watching its habits. It was a brave bird; and, till 
reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me 
backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows would 
have stopped him ; every inch gained he firmly kept, 
standing close before me, erect and determined. 
When thus opposed, he continually rolled his head 
from side to side in a very odd manner, as if the 
power of vision lay only in the anterior and basal 
part of each eye. This bird is commonly called the 
Jackass Penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of 
throwing its head backwards, and making a loud 
strange noise, very like the braying of that animal; 
but while at sea and undisturbed, its note is very 
deep and solemn, and is often heard in the night- 
time. In diving, its little plumeless wings are used 
as fins; but on the land, as front legs. When crawl- 
ing (it may be said on four legs) through the tus- 
socks, or on the side of a grassy cliff, it moved so 
very quickly that it might readily have been mis- 
taken for a quadruped. When at sea and fishing, 
it comes to the surface for the purpose of breathing, 
with such a spring, and dives again so instantane- 
ously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 239 

that it is not a fish leaping for sport."* Of the same 
species, apparently, Captain Fitzroy thus speaks : — 
" Multitudes of Penguins were swarming together 
in some parts of the island [Noir Island], among the 
bushes and tussocks near the shore, having gone 
there for the purposes of moulting and rearing their 
young. They were very valiant in self-defence, and 
ran, open-mouthed, by dozens, at any one who in- 
vaded their territory, little knowing how soon a stick 
could scatter them on the ground. The young were 
good eating, but the others proved to be black and 
tough when cooked. The manner in which they 
feed their young is curious, and rather amusing : 
the old. bird gets on a little eminence, and makes 
a great noise, between quacking and braying, hold- 
ing its head up in the air, as if it were haranguing 
the penguinnery, while the young one stands close to 
it, but a little lower. The old bird having continued 
its clatter for about a minute, puts its head down, 
and opens its mouth widely, into which the young 
one thrusts its head, and then appears to suck from 
the throat of its mother for a minute or two, after 
which the clatter is repeated, and the young one 
is again fed; this continues for about ten minutes. 
I observed some that were moulting make the same 
noise, and then apparently swallow w^hat they thus 
supplied themselves with ; so, in this way, I suppose, 
they are furnished with subsistence during the time 
they cannot seek it in the water."'!' Mr. Weddell 
observes of the King Penguins: — "In pride these 

* Voyages of Adventure and Beagle, iii. 256. -f-Ibid. i. 387. 



240 THE OCEAN. 

birds are perhaps not surpassed even by the pea- 
cock, to which, in beauty of plumage, they are indeed 
very little inferior. During the time of moulting, 
they seem to repel each other with disgust, on 
account of the ragged state of their coats ; but as they 
arrive at the maximum of splendour, they re-assem- 
ble, and no one who has not completed his plumage 
is allowed to enter the community. Their frequently 
looking down their front and sides, in order to con- 
template the perfection of their exterior brilliancy, 
and to remove any speck which might sully it, is 
truly amusing to an observer. 

"About the beginning of January they pair, and 
lay their eggs. During the time of hatching, the 
male is remarkably assiduous, so that when the hen 
has occasion to go off to feed and wash, the egg is 
transported to him; which is done by placing their 
toes together, and rolling it from the one to the 
other, using their beaks to place it properly. As 
they have no nest, it is to be remarked that the egg 
is carried between the tail and legs, where the female, 
in particular, has a cavity for the purpose. 

"The hen keeps charge of her young nearly a 
twelvemonth, during which time they change and 
complete their plumage; and in teaching them to 
swim, the mother has frequently to use some arti- 
fice; for when the young one refuses to take the 
water, she entices it to the side of a rock and cun- 
ningly pushes it in; and this is repeated until it takes 
the sea of its own accord."'^ All the species are 
arrant thieves, each losing no opportunity of stealing 

* Voyage towards the South Pole, p. 55. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 241 

materials during nest-building time, and even the 
eggs from each other, if they are left unguarded. 
They are usually thought, when seen at sea, to 
indicate that land is at no great distance; but this 
indication is not always correct, for they are occa- 
sionally seen very far from any shore, and, indeed, 
with their swimming powers, one can readily imagine 
that the space of a few leagues would be no object 
of concern. The Crested Penguin, in particular, 
lives in open sea ; it has been seen some hundreds 
of miles from land, voyaging in pairs, male and 
female. 

The chief object of commercial speculation in the 
Pacific is the pursuit of the Sperm Whale, than 
which the whole wide range of human enterprise 
affords no occupation of more daring adventure, or 
more romantic interest. A crew of thirty or forty 
hardy fellows leave their native land, and boldly 
steer away to the most distant parts of the globe. 
The tempestuous sea of Cape Horn soon finds them 
hotly engaged in striking their giant game; or, if 
they find it not here, they do not hesitate to stretch 
away to the shores of New Zealand, or even to 
seek the leviathan of the deep five thousand miles 
farther, in the distant seas of China and Japan. 
Now they are braving the horrors of the Antarctic 
sea, threading an intricate and perilous course 
through fields and bergs of floating ice, "under the 
frozen serpent of the south-," anon they are upon 
the equator, toiling with undaunted spirit beneath 
the rays of a vertical sun. The bleak and barren 
rocks of the Horn, tenanted by Penguins, are for- 

16 X 



242 THE OCEAN. 

saken for the sunny isles of Polynesia, and these, 
again, for the inhospitable shores of Kamschatka. 
Peculiar dangers attend them in their protracted 
voyage; if they escape unscathed from the storms 
of the south, it is to enter an ocean strewn with in- 
numerable reefs of stony coral, whose positions are 
but imperfectly indicated in charts, to touch one of 
which would be inevitable destruction; if these are 
safely passed, it is to penetrate into a sea vexed with 
the most terrible of tempests, the typhoon. The 
duration of the voyage is protracted to a length 
which would justify our calling it an exile; this is 
no summer's trip; three and even four years are 
the ordinary periods allotted to this enterprise. The 
object of the pursuit, gigantic in size and power, 
seems to demand no ordinary courage in its assail- 
ant ; and more especially in his own element, when 
he is " making the sea to boil like a pot of oint- 
ment," to venture to the battle in a frail boat, needs 
a hardihood of more than common calibre. The 
moment of victory is frequently the moment of 
danger; the dying struggles of the lanced Whale 
are of fearful impetuosity; the huge and muscular 
tail lashes the Ocean into foam, and the long and 
powerful lower jaw, serried with teeth, snaps con- 
vulsively in every direction. Timid as this mighty 
animal usually is, instances are not infrequent, in 
which a consciousness of strength has been accom- 
panied by the will to use it. The destruction of 
the ship Essex, an American whaler, affords a re- 
markable instance of the ferocity and determination, 
as well ajS of the power, of the Sperm Whale. This 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 213 

vessel was wlialing ia the vicinity of the Society 
Islands, when one of these animals, having grazed 
its back in passing beneath the vessel's keel, became 
enraged, and after swimming to some distance, sud- 
denly turned, and rushed with amazing force against 
the ship. The helmsman vainly endeavoured to 
avoid the blow, and the animal, repeating the attack, 
stove in the ship's bows, when she speedily filled 
and went down, barely allowing the hands on board 
time to take to the boat. Those who were out in 
pursuit, seeing, to their astonishment, their, vessel 
sink without any apparent cause, hastened to the 
spot, and the whole crew found themselves in open 
boats, three thousand miles from the coast of Chili, 
to which they determined to proceed, but where 
three or four only arrived, after painful and pro- 
tracted sufferings. 

The Sperm Whale {Physeter macrocephalus) attains 
a greater length than the Greenland Whale, from 
which it is at once distinguished by the remarkable 
form of the head. As in the latter, the head occu- 
pies about one-third of the entire length, but it 
is of the same thickness throughout, appearing as 
if it had been suddenly cut off at the muzzle; so 
that the head bears no small resemblance to a huge 
box. There is no whalebone ; but the lower jaw, 
which is narrow, and fits into the upper, is armed 
with a series of sharp teeth, which are received into 
hollows in the upper gums. The blow-hole is placed 
at the front angle of the head ; the eye is just above 
the inner corner of the mouth, and over this, where 
the head joins the body, there is a hunch, called the 



24'4 THE OCEAN. 

bunch of tlie neck ; from hence the body is nearly 
straight to within one-third of its length from the 
tail, where there is a larger prominence called the 
hump ; it now rapidly tapers away to the tail : the 
whalers distinguish this tapering part by the name 
of "the small," and the broad horizontal tail, as "the 
flukes." The whole of the upper portion of the 
square and bluff head is occupied by a cavity, tech- 
nically termed " the case ;" which is not covered by 
bone, but by a thick, tendinous, elastic skin, and 
lined with a beautiful glistening membrane. This 
cavity is filled with a clear oil, which, after death, 
cools into the substance well known as spermaceti. 
Some idea may be formed of the capacity of the case, 
from the fact that, in a large Whale, it will frequently 
be found to contain ten large barrels of this valuable 
product; Immediately beneath the case is placed 
"the junk," a thick triangular mass of tough elastic 
substance, which also yields a considerable quantity 
of spermaceti. The fins are comparatively small, and 
are situated a little behind the mouth; they do not 
appear to be used in giving motion, which is effected 
by the tail, but in balancing the body, and support- 
ing the young. 

The general colour of the animal is very dark 
grey, nearly black on the upper parts, but more sil- 
very beneath. Old males usually have a large spot 
of pale grey on the front of the head, when they are 
said to be grey-headed. The motions of these enor- 
mous creatures are exceedingly curious : when mov- 
ing perfectly at leisure, the Whale swims slowly 
along, just below the surface of the water, effecting 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 245 

his progress by gently moving his tail from side to 
side obliquely. The bunch and hump may be seen 
above the water, and by the disturbance which they 
cause in cutting the fluid, some foam is produced, 
by which an experienced whaler can judge, even at 
some miles' distance, how fast the animal is going. 
When disturbed, however, or from any cause in- 
clined to increase his velocity, he uses a very dif- 
ferent mode of progression. The broad tail now 
strikes the water upward and downward alternately 
with great force ; at every blow downward the fore 
part sinks down several yards into the water, while 
by the force of the upward blow the head is thrust 
■entirely out of the water. A Whale can swim in 
this manner, the head alternately appearing and 
disappearing, which the seamen call "going head- 
out," at the rate of twelve miles an hour. It may 
appear surprising that so bulky a portion of the 
animal as the enormous head, should be so easily 
thrust into the air, the head being "usually the 
heaviest part of an animal : but here we trace the 
beneficent hand of God in creation, the volume of the 
head being occupied not with dense bone, but, as we 
have seen, with an oil which is considerably lighter 
than water, and which renders this part the most 
buoyant of the whole body. And when we consider 
that the breathing aperture, or blow-hole, must be 
projected from the water for the reception of air, we 
see the reason of this buoyancy.* 

* For most of the particulars of the history and pursuit of this 
animal I am indebted to Mr. Beale's valuable work on the Sperm 
Whale 

x2 



246 THE OCEAN. 

Every tiling connected with, tlie breathing of the 
Sperm Whale is performed with a regularity that 
is very remarkable. The length of time he remains 
at the surface, the number of "spoutings" made at 
each, time, the length of interval between the spouts, 
the time he remains below the surface, before again 
rising to breathe, are all, when he is undisturbed, 
as regular in succession and duration as it is pos- 
sible to imagine. This is a circumstance of the 
greatest value to the whaler; for though there is 
considerable variation in these particulars in different 
animals, yet such is the precision with which each 
maintains his own rates of movement, that when 
the periods of any particular Whale have been ob- 
served, the whaler can calculate, even to a minute, 
when it will reappear, and how long it will continue 
at the surface. A large male, called "a bull whale," 
usually remains at the surface about ten minutes, 
during which he spouts sixty or seventy times; 
then, to use the nautical phrase, " his spoutings are 
out," the head gradually sinks, the "small" is pro- 
jected from the water, and presently the "flukes" 
of the tail are raised high in the air, and the animal 
descends perpendicularly to an unknown depth, re- 
maining below from an hour to an hour and twenty 
minutes, when he comes up to respire again. 

The regular recurrence of these motions can be 
depended on only when the Whale is perfectly at 
ease; for, if alarmed, he dives immediately, rising, 
however, soon again to complete his spoutings. 
When "going head out," also, he spouts at every 
projection of the head, and much more hurriedly 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 24Y 

than usual. One would be apt to suppose that a 
creature so huge and powerful, would be little the 
subject of fear or alarm; but, in truth, it is a re- 
markably timid animal; the approach even of a 
boat causing him to descend with precipitation. It 
is graciously ordained, that the creatures which are 
formed to contribute to man's comfort or sustenance, 
though many of them are more powerful than he, 
should be impressed with such a fear of him, as 
in general to be incapable of using their superior 
strength to his disadvantage. "And the fear of 
you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast 
of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air ; upon 
all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the 
fishes of the sea ; into your hand are they deliver- 
ed."* But this huge animal has other enemies 
than man: equally with the Greenland Whale, it 
is subject to the assaults of some of the larger 
predaceous fishes; the Sword-fish and the Saw-fish 
plunge into his body their formidable snouts, and the 
" Thresher" leaps upon him from above. Mr. Beale 
records the following incident, as reported to him 
by an eye-witness, a gentleman on whose veracity he 
could rely. " He stated that he had been observing 
a Sperm "Whale during the time it had remained 
at the surface to breathe, which afterwards went 
through the evolution of peaking its flukes in the 
usual manner, and disappeared. As it was a large 
Whale, and as he knew it was likely to remain under 
water for a considerable time, he scarcely expected 
to see it again. However, in this he was mistaken ; 

* Gen. ix. 2. 



248 THE OCEAN. 

for after it had disappeared only for a few minutes, 
it again rose, apparently in great trepidation, and, 
as it reared with great velocity, half of its • huge 
body projected out of the water. Gaining, however, 
in a few seconds the horizontal position, it went on 
at its utmost speed, going head out; the moment 
after which, he saw a fish, somewhat resembling 
a Conger-eel in figure, but rather more bulky, and 
to all appearance about six or eight feet in length, 
flying itself high out of the water after the Whale, 
and fall clumsily on its back, which caused still 
more alarm to the immense but timid animal, so 
that it beat the water with its tail, and reared its 
enormous head so violently, that sounds from the 
former could be heard at a great distance : it still, 
however, continued its rapid career, receiving every 
few minutes the unwelcome visits of its galling 
adversary. My informant had good reason to be- 
lieve that some other animal was at the same time 
attacking it from below ; for, on. more than one 
occasion, he saw some animal dart at times to the 
surface with amazing quickness, as if engaged with 
great fury in the contest ; and which, he supposes, 
prevented the Whale from descending, in which he 
had the power, no doubt, if he had not been thus 
prevented, of leaving his antagonists far behind. 
The attack was continued for a considerable time, 
during which the Whale had got a great distance 
from the ship, when it twice threw itself completely 
out of its native element, no doubt endeavouring 
to escape from its tormenting adversaries by this 
act of 'breaching,' and which I have myself seen 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 249 

him do, after having been unsuccessfully chased by 
the boats."^ 

A Whale will occasionally place himself perpen- 
dicularly in the water, his whole head being visible, 
presenting a most extraordinary appearance, like a 
black rock in the Ocean: the object of this posture 
is to take a rapid and comprehensive glance around 
him, when he is apprehensive of danger. Some- 
times, when attacked by boats, he will carefully 
sweep his tail from side to side upon the surface, 
as if to discover by feeling, the object of his dread. 
At other times, he amuses himself by lashing the 
water with the same organ, in the most violent man- 
ner; covering the sea with foam, while the strokes 
resound on every side. Breaching or leaping bodily 
into the air, is alluded to in the above extract. 

The food of the Sperm Whale consists of different 
species of cuttle or squid, occasionally varied with 
small fish : to obtain these, Mr. Beale supposes with 
much probability, that he descends to a consider- 
able depth, and remaining as quiet as possible, 
allows his narrow lower jaw to hang down perpen- 
dicularly at right angles with his body. The whole 
inside of his mouth, and particularly the teeth, being 
of a glistening white hue, the squid are attracted 
to visit it, and when a sufficient number are within, 
the mouth is supposed to be closed. That the prey 
is obtained in some other way than by pursuit is 
proved by the fact, that Whales are often found 
blind, and :>thers with the lower jaw distorted, which 
yet are in as good condition as others. These dis- 

* Beale's Sperm Whale, p. 49. 



250 THE OCEAN. 

tortions arise from battles between old "bull whales;" 
they rush upon each other with great fury, their 
mouths wide open, each endeavouring to seize his 
adversary by the lower jaw. In this manner they 
often become locked together by the jaws, and then' 
struggling with all their gigantic power, the contest 
frequently terminates in the dislocation or fracture 
of the jaw. The teeth are not used for chewing, the 
prey being swallowed entire. 

In the chase and capture of this immense creature, 
as might be expected from the peculiarities of its 
habits, there are several circumstances that distin- 
guish it from the Greenland whale-fishery, while, 
at the same time, there is a general resemblance. 
Ships of three or four hundred tons are selected 
for the voyage, strongly built, manned with a crew 
of about thirty hands, and provisioned for four years. 
A watch is stationed aloft immediately on leaving the 
Channel, although the Sperm Whale is rarely seen in 
the Atlantic north of the equator. The look-out on 
the mast-head is never interrupted during the voyage, 
or until the cargo is completed, the men on this duty 
being relieved in succession. On a Sperm Whale 
being perceived, the intelligence is communicated by 
the watch calling out aloud in a peculiar tone, " There 
she spouts!" a cry which fails not to produce a gene- 
ral rush on deck of all hands. The captain eagerly 
asks, "Whereaway?" The position of the prey is 
pointed out, while at every fresh spouting the watch, 
accompanied by every individual on board who has 
caught sight of the object, vociferates, "There again!" 
When the spoutings are out, and the Whale descends, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 251 

the elevation of the tail into the air is announced 
in the same manner by "There goes flukes I" The 
reason of these announcements appears to be, that 
the times of the animal's motions may be accurately 
marked by the proper officers, though they may not 
see them themselves, as affording an unfailing cri- 
terion by which to judge of his future movements. 
On the first signal being given, the boats, which are 
always kept in complete readiness at the ship's side, 
are lowered, and the men take their places with joy- 
ous alacrity. If not too far off, they 'strain every 
nerve to arrive at the animal before his spoutings 
are out, which in a large bull Whale may be about 
ten minutes. Should they be unable, however, to 
effect this, they endeavour to mark his direction of 
diving, and station themselves near the spot where 
they expect he will break water. On his reappear- 
ance, the boats are rowed up as silently as possible, 
and the foremost harpooner darts his weapon with 
all his force into his side. The instant this is done 
he cries, "Stern all!" and the boat is withdrawn with 
precipitation. The Whale, writhing with the agony, 
dives perpendicularly, drawing the line of the har- 
poon swiftly through its groove: the other boats 
are ready to bend on their lines, each of which is 
two hundred fathoms long ; for sometimes a Whale 
will drag after him four lines descending to the 
depth of 4800 feet. Presently he is seen approach- 
ing the surface: "The gurgling and bubbling water, 
which rises before, also proclaims that he is near; 
his nose starts from the sea; the rushing spout is 
projected high and suddenly, from his agitation." 



252 THE OCEAN. 

On his reacliing the surface, the other boats infix 
their harpoons, while at the same instant the former 
harpooner thrusts deeply his steel lance into the 
body, and "Stern all!" again resounds. 

Now comes the most dangerous part of the busi- 
ness; the Whale is in his "flurry," or last agony; 
he dashes hither and thither, snaps convulsively with 
his huge jaws, rolls over and over, coiling the line 
around his body, or leaps completely out of the 
water. The boats are often upset, sometimes broken 
into fragments, and the men wounded or drowned. 
Now the crimson blood is spouted from the blow- 
hole, and falls in showers around; the poor animal 
whirls rapidly round in unconsciousness, in a por- 
tion of a circle, rolls over on its side, and is still in 
death. 

The huge body is now towed to the ship ; a hole 
is cut into the blubber near the head, into which 
a strong hook is inserted ; a difficult and dangerous 
operation. A strong tension is then applied to this 
hook, and by it the blubber is hoisted up, as it is 
gradually cut by the spades in a spiral strip, going 
round and round the body. As this strip or band of 
blubber is pulled off, the body of course revolves, until 
the stripping reaches " the small," when it will turn 
no more. The head, which at the commencement 
of the process was cut off and secured astern, is 
now hoisted into a perpendicular position, the front 
of the muzzle opened, and the spermaceti dipped 
out of the " case" by a bucket at the end of a pole. 
The "junk" is then cut into oblong pieces, and the 
remainder of the head, with the carcass, cut adrift. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 253; 

The oil is afterwards extracted from the blubber 
and junk by exposing them to' the action of fire in 
large pots, the skinny portions which, remain serv- 
ing for fuel: and the spermaceti is purified in the 
same manner. The products are then stowed away 
in barrels in the vessel's hold. 

The following narrative, from the interesting work 
of Mr. Beale, gives ns a vivid picture of this excit- 
ing pursuit: "At daybreak, one fine morning in 
August, as our first mate was going aloft to look 
out for Whales, he discovered no less than three 
ships within a mile of us; but they were situated 
in various directions. We soon discovered them to 
be whalers, who, like ourselves, were cruising after 
the Spermaceti Whale, and, therefore, their appear- 
ance only had the effect of redoubling our vigilance 
in the look-ont, so that we might, if possible, be 
the first to obtain the best chance, if one of those 
creatures hove in sight. And it was not long be- 
fore a very large Whale made his appearance right 
in among the ships. The water was smooth at the 
time, for we had but a light air of wind stirring, 
so that our boats were instantly lowered without 
the loss of time of bringing the ship to. But, al- 
though we managed matters as quietly and secretly 
as possible, we found the moment our boats quitted 
the ship's side, that all the others had been as vigi- 
lant as ourselves, and had also lowered their boats 
after the Whale. The whole of them immediately 
began the chase, nine boats in all, being three from 
each ship. They all exerted themselves to the ut- 
most, and, as we expected, in vain; for before any 



254 THE OCEAN. 

of the boats had got even near him, the enormous 
animal lifted his widely-expanded flukes, and de- 
scended perpendicularly into the depths of the Ocean 
to feed. Those in the boats, however, having no- 
ticed his course, proceeded onwards, thinking the 
Whale would continue to pursue the same direction 
under water; but, as he was going slowly at the 
time he was up, they did not proceed more than a 
mile from the place at which he descended, before 
they separated about a hundred yards from each 
other, and then, peaking their oars, all the men in 
each boat stood up, looking in different directions, 
so as to catch the first appearance of the spout, when 
the Whale again rose to breathe. When an hour 
after his descent had expired, the excitement among 
us who were on board the ship, became wound up 
to its highest pitch. The captain, who had remained 
on board, ascended to the fore-top-gallant-yard to 
watch the manoeuvres of the boats, and for the 
purpose of the better ordering the signals to them, 
or working of the ship. All. those who were down 
after the Whale appeared as feverish with anxiety 
as ourselves, for every now and then they were to 
be seen shifting their position a little, thinking 
to do so with advantage; then . they would cease 
rowing, and stand up on the seats of the boats, and 
look all round over the smooth surface of the Ocean 
with ardent gaze. But one hour and ten minutes 
expired before the monster of the deep thought 
proper to break cover; and when he did, then a 
rattling chase commenced with the whole of the 
boats, and they really flew along in fine -style, some 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 255 

of them appearing to be actually lifted quite on the 
surface of the water, from the great power of the 
rowers ; and we had the satisfaction of observing, 
that our boats were quite equal to the others in 
the speed with which they were propelled. But it 
was again a useless task, as the Whale had outwitted 
those in the boats, by having gone, while under 
water, much further than any of his pursuers had 
anticipated, and they again had the mortification of 
witnessing the turning of his flukes, as he once more 
descended into the depths of his vast domain. We 
now knew to a minute the time that he would remain 
below, while the people in the boats continued to 
row slowly onwards the whole time. A fine breeze 
now sprang up, so that we were enabled to keep 
company with the boats, keeping a little to wind- 
ward of them, as the Whale was going 'on a wind,' 
as a seaman would say, meaning that it was blowing 
across him. 

*' When the hour and ten minutes had again nearly 
past, the nine boats were nearly abreast of each 
other, and not much separated, so that the success 
of first striking the Whale depended very much 
upon the swiftest boat, especially if the Whale came 
up ahead. We had now all the boats on our lee- 
beam, while the ships were all astern of us, the most 
distant not being more than half a mile, so that we 
enjoyed an excellent view of this most exciting and 
animated scene. True to his time, the leviathan 
at length arose right ahead of the boats, and at 
not more than a quarter of a mile distant from them. 
The excitement among the crews of the various 



25$ THE OCEAN. 

boats, when they saw his first spout, was tremen- 
dous ; they did not shout, but we could hear an agi- 
tated murmur from their united voices reverberating 
along the surface of the deep. They flew over the 
limpid waves at a rapid rate : the mates of the vari- 
ous boats cheered their respective crews by various 
urgent exclamations. 'Swing on your oars, my 
boys, for the honour of the Henrietta !' cried one ; 
* Spring away, hearties !' shouted another ; and yet 
scarcely able to breathe from anxiety and exertion ; 
' It's our fish !' vociferated a third, as he passed the 
rest of his opponents but a trifling distance. ' Lay 
on, my boys I' cried young Clark, our first mate, as 
he steered the boat with one hand and pressed down 
the after oar with the other: 'she'll be ours yet; 
let's have a strong pull, a long pull, and a pull 
all together!' he exclaimed, as he paused from his 
exertions at the after oar, which soon brought up 
his boat quite abreast of the foremost. 

"But the giant of the Ocean, who was only a 
short distance before them, now appeared rather 
'gallied,' or frightened, having probably seen or 
heard the boats, and as he pufted up his spout to 
a great height, and reared his enormous head, he 
increased his speed, and went along quite as fast as. 
the boats, but for only two or three minutes, when 
he appeared to get perfectly quiet again, while the 
boats gained rapidly upon him, and were soon close 
in his wake. \ Stand up !' cried young Clark to 
the harpooner, who is also the bow-oarsman ; while 
the same order was instantly given by his opponent, 
whose boat was abreast of our mate's with the rest 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 25t 

close to their sterns. The orders were instantly 
obeyed, for in a second of time both boat-steerers 
stood in the bows of their respective boats, with 
their harpoons held above their heads ready for the 
dart ; but they both panted to be a few yards nearer 
to the Whale, to do so with success. The monster 
plunged through the main quickly, but the boats 
gained upon him every moment, when the agitation 
of all parties became intense, and a general cry of 
'Dart! dart!' broke from the hindermost boats, 
who each urged their friends, fearful of delay. The 
uproar became excessive, and while the tumult of 
voices, and the working and splashing of the oars, 
rolled along the surface of the deep, both the har- 
pooners darted their weapons together, which, if 
they had both struck the Whale, would have origin- 
ated a contention between them, regarding their 
claims. But, as it happened, neither of them had 
that good fortune; for, at the moment of their 
darting the harpoons, the Whale descended like a 
shot, and avoided their infliction, leaving nothing 
but a white and green-looking vortex in the disturbed 
blue Ocean, to mark the spot where his monstrous 
form so lately floated. A general huzza burst from 
the sternmost boats, when they saw the issue of this 
chase, thinking, now, that another chance awaited 
them on the next rising of the Whale, and they soon 
began to separate themselves a little, and to row 
onwards again in the course which they thought he 
had taken. Our captain, feeling irritated at the ill- 
success of the mate, now ordered his own boat to 
be lowered, intending to make one in the chase him- 

17 y2 



358 THE OCEAN. 

self; but, just as he had parted from the ship, going 
down a little to leeward, a tremendous shout arose 
from the people in our own boats, joined with a loud 
murmuring from the rest of the boats' crews; for 
the Whale, not having had all its spoutings out, had 
now risen again to finish them, and was coming to 
windward at a quick rate, right towards our ship. 
The captain saw his favourable situation in a mo- 
ment, and passing quickly to the bows of the boat, 
he stood to waylay him as he came careering along, 
throwing his enormous head completely out of the 
water, for he was now quite ' gallied.' He soon 
came, and caught a sight of the boat just as he 
got within dart; the vast animal rolled himself 
over in an agony of fear, to alter his course; but 
it was too late ; the harpoon was hurled with ex- 
cellent aim, and was plunged deeply into his side, 
near the fin. 

" As the immense creature almost flew out of the 
water from the blow, throwing tons of spray high 
into the air, showing that he was ' fast,' a triumph- 
ant cheering arose from those in our own boats, as 
well as from those in the ship, accompanied by ex- 
clamations loud and deep, and not of the most fa- 
vourable kind to us, from all the rest. But onwards 
they all came, and soon cheerfully rendered assist- 
ance to complete its destruction ; but which was not 
done, however, without considerable difficulty, the 
Whale continuing to descend the moment either of 
the boats got nearly within dart of him. But after 
an hour's exertion in this way, six out of the ten 
boats which were now engaged got fast to him by 



toE PACIFIC OCEAN. 259 

their harpoons, but not one of them could get near 
enough to give him a fatal lance. He towed them 
all in various directions for some time, taking care 
to descend below the surface the moment a boat 
drew up over his flukes, or otherwise drew near, 
which rendered it almost impossible to strike him 
in the body, even when the lance was darted, 
although the after part of his ' small' was perfo- 
rated in a hundred places: from these wounds 
the blood gushed in considerable quantities, and 
as the poor animal moved along, towing the boats, 
he left a long ensanguined stain in the Ocean. At 
last, becoming weak from his numerous and deep 
wounds, he became less capable of avoiding his foes, 
which gave an opportunity for one of them to pierce 
him to the life! Dreadful was, that moment, the 
acute pain which the leviathan experienced, and 
which roused the dormant energies of his gigantic 
frame. As the life-blood gurgled thick through the 
nostril, the immense creature went into his 'flurry' 
with excessive fury ; the boats were speedily sterned 
off, while he beat the water in his dying convul- 
sions with a force that appeared to shake the firm 
foundation of the Ocean."* 

Few occurrences in a long voyage are more gene- 
rally interesting and exciting than the sight, and par- 
ticularly the speaking, of another ship. Even in 
crossing the Atlantic this is the case ; but how much 
more in a voyage to the Pacific, where many months 
may elapse without the appearance of a vessel ! The 

* Hist, of Sperm Whale, p. 176. 



260 THE OCEAN. 

call of "Sail ho!" lias an electric effect: all the 
telescopes on board are soon pointed towards her; 
her rig, her canvas, her direction, the force of wind 
she has, the tack she is on, if "by the wind," are 
all carefully scrutinized and commented on. If the 
courses of the two vessels, and their positions, are 
such that they will approach very near to each other, 
they will '^ speak," as a matter of course ; but there 
are few commanders so churlish as not to submit 
to a slight deviation of their course in order to com- 
municate with another. Perhaps the stranger is 
seen directly astern, following right in the wake, a 
circumstance which, as far as my own observation 
extends, commonly excites a slight feeling of un- 
easiness, and a more than usual attention to her ap- 
pearance, powers of sailing, &c. Though the reason 
assures one that the occurrence of a ship in that 
particular direction, is as likely as in any other 
quarter, yet the mind will recur to the idea of pur- 
suit, and thoughts of walking the plank, or hanging 
at the yard-arm, will crowd up to the imagination, 
especially if the locality happen to be the West 
Indies, or the Spanish Main, or any other sea ha- 
bitually infested with pirates. But as she gains 
a greater nearness, her hull and rig indicate her to 
be a peaceful trader, and presently the bunting is 
run up to the peak, and the folds of England's fair 
ensign How out upon the breeze. The approach 
of a vessel is always a pleasing sight ; her graceful 
movements, as she bounds over the waves, the white 
foam rolling up under her bows, her taper masts 
and spars, the elegant curves which the breeze gives 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 261 

to her running rigging, the white, plump sails, belly- 
ing from the wind, are all beautiful; if she is to 
windward, her clean white decks are visible as she 
lies over, the crew collected in the waist, or about 
the bows, the officers and passengers assembled on 
the quarter-deck, gazing with equal curiosity to our 
own, upon our appearance; the captain standing 
with his speaking-trumpet in his hand ready to seize 
the moment of nearest approach. He raises his 
trumpet to his mouth— "Ship ahoy!" "Hilloal" 
" What ship is that, pray ? "Where are you from ? 
Where are you bound ? How long are you out ? 
What's your longitude?" These and similar ques- 
tions are mutually asked and answered, each reply 
being acknowledged by a slight motion of the trum- 
pet in the air. If there be opportunity, the pre- 
vailing character of the winds with each, the pros- 
pects of the voyage, the state of the respective 
crews, and other nautical subjects, are interchanged ; 
but usually the time afforded for speaking by the 
vessels remaining within hail, is very brief, and they 
again diverge, and soon are lost to each other below 
the horizon. Yery often, from the sighing of the 
wind among the cordage, the working of the ship, 
the ripple and splash at her side, as well as from 
distance, while the questions from being so much 
in course, are perfectly intelligible, the answers are 
almost inaudible, and can sometimes only be guessed 
at, the consonants being entirely lost, and the vowel- 
sounds alone heard. This will explain a laughable 
incident which took place a few years ago, on the 



262 THE OCEAN. 

homeward passage of the John Bull transport, from 
Eio Janeiro. 

One fine starlight evening, about half-past eight 
o'clock, the of&cer on deck came into the cabin, and 
announced that a ship was hailing. All hands im- 
mediately came on deck, and the captain asked the 
position of the stranger. At that moment, "Ship 
ahoy!" was heard, the voice apparently being to 
windward. A lantern was put over the gangway, 
the mainsail was hauled up, and the mainyard 
backed, to stop the vessel's way. No ship was to be 
seen. " Silence, fore and aft !" ordered the captain, 
for the decks were now crowded, soldiers, sailors, 
women, children, all were up. " Ship ahoy !" again 
came over the waves, and "Hilloa!" answers the 
captain at the top of his voice. Every one now 
listened with breathless attention for the next ques- 
tion, expecting the name of the ship would be de- 
manded, as usual : " Ship ahoy !" again resounded, 
and several together answered "Hilloa!" louder than 
before : but no notice was taken of the reply, and 
no sail was in sight. "It is very strange!" ex- 
claimed the captain; "where can she be?" One 
thought she might have passed them ; others sug- 
gested that it might be a pirate-boat about to board. 
The captain took the hint, put the troops under arms, 
cleared away the guns ready for action, and double- 
shotted them. Silence being again obtained, " Ship 
ahoy !" was heard again, and the voice still seemed to 
come from the windward. The chief mate then sug- 
gested the possibility of some person being on a raft, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAIT. ' 263 

and volunteered to go in a boat to ascertain. The 
boat was lowered, and the two mates, with the boat's 
crew, each armed with sword and pistol, rowed at 
some distance round the ship. 

On the officer's return, they reported that they 
could neither hear nor see any thing. Silence pre- 
vailed while they reported this to the captain, every 
one being desirous to know the issue of the search. 
Instantly, the same " Ship ahoy I" was heard, 
though much less audibly, and, apparently, at a 
greater distance than before. The next moment 
it was heard much louder and closer. A feeling of 
intense excitement now prevailed in each of the 
crowd of persons on board the transport. More than 
an hour had passed since the ship was hove to ; every 
one had repeatedly heard the stranger's hail, coming 
through the darkness, but nothing had been seen 
of him, and no further question or answer could be 
elicited. The screams of the women and children, 
and the muttering of the men, showed that super- 
stitious dread of something supernatural and un- 
earthly was creeping over every one. The captain 
issued orders to shoulder arms and to make ready 
the guns. 

Just at this crisis, one of the cabin-boys, who had 
been standing near the mainmast, stepped aft to the 
chief mate, and said, "It's a fowl in the hencoop, 
sir, that's a-making that 'ere noise." That officer 
indignantly bestowed on him a sound box on the 
ear for his information, but immediately recollecting 
that he was an intelligent lad, accompanied him to 



264 THE OCEAN. 

the hencoop with a lantern ; where he saw a fowl 
lying on its side. He took it out, and placed it on 
the capstan; and there, in the sight of the whole 
company, was beheld a poor hen dying of the croup, 
occasionally emitting a sound "ee-a-aw," which re- 
sembled the words " Ship ahoy !" coming from a 
distance, as closely as any hail that was ever heard.* 

« Naut. Mag. 1842, p. 409. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAK 

CONTINUED. 

A EEMAEKABLE feature in the Pacific Ocean, and 
one that distinguishes it from every other sea, is the 
immense assemblage of small islands with which it is 
crowded, particularly in the portion situated between 
the tropics. For about three thousand miles from 
the coast of South America, the sea is almost entirely 
free from islands ; but thence to the great isles of 
India, an immense belt of Ocean, nearly five thou- 
sand miles in length, and fifteen hundred in breadth, 
is so studded with them as almost to be one con- 
tinuous archipelago. The term Polynesia, by which 
this division of the globe is now distinguished, is 
compounded of two Greek words, signifying many 
islands. Yery few of these gems of the Ocean are 
more than a few miles in extent, though Tahiti, and 
some in the more western groups, are of rather larger 
dimensions; while Hawaii, the largest island in 
Polynesia, is about the size of Yorkshire. 

The isles, which in such vast numbers thus stud 
the bosom of the Pacific, are of three distinct forms, 
the Coral, the Crystal, and the Yolcanic. Of these, 
the first formation greatly predominates; but the 
largest islands are of the last description: of the 
crystal formation but few specimens are known. 

Z (265) 



266 



THE OCEAIT. 



Imagine a belt of land in the wide Ocean, not more 
tlian half a mile in breadth, but extending, in an 
irregular curve, to the length of ten or twenty miles 
or more : the height above the water not more than 
a yard or two at most, but clothed with a mass of 
the richest and most verdant vegetation. Here and 
there, above the general bed of luxuriant foliage, 
rises a grove of cocoa-nut trees, waving their fea- 
thery plumes high in the air, and gracefully bending 
their tall and slender stems to the breathing of the 
pleasant trade-wind. The grove is bordered by a 




Coral Island. 



narrow beach on each side, of the most glittering 
whiteness, contrasting with the beautiful azure 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 267 

waters hj which it is environed. From end to end 
of the curved isles stretches, in a straight line, form- 
ing, as it were, the cord of the bow, a narrow beach, 
of the same snowy whiteness, almost level with the 
sea at the lowest tide, enclosing a semi-circular space 
of water between it and the island, called the lagoon. 
Over this line of beach, which occupies the leeward 
side, the curve being to windward, the sea is break- 
ing with sublime majesty ; the long unbroken swell 
of the Ocean, hitherto unbridled through a course 
of thousands of miles, is met by this rampart, when 
the huge billows, rearing themselves upwards many 
yards above its level, and bending their foaming 
crests, " form a graceful liquid arch, glittering in the 
rays of a tropical sun, as if studded with brilliants. 
But, before the eyes of the spectator can follow the 
splendid aqueous gallery which they appear to have 
reared, with loud and hollow roar they fall, in mag- 
nificent desolation, and spread the gigantic fabric 
in froth and spray upon the horizontal and gently 
broken surface." Contrasting strongly with the 
tumult and confusion of the hoary billows without, 
the water within the lagoon exhibits the serene 
placidity of a mill-pond. Extending downwards to 
a depth, varying from a few feet to fifty fathoms, the 
waters possess the lively green hue common to 
soundings on a white or yellow ground ; while the 
surface, unruffled by a wave, reflects with accurate 
distinctness the mast of the canoe that sleeps upon 
its bosom, and the tufts of the cocoa-nut plumes that 
rise from the beach above it. Such is a Coral 
Island, and if its appearance is one of singular loveli- 



268 THE OCEAN. 

ness, as all who have seen it testify, its structure, 
on examination, is found to be no less interesting 
and wonderful. The beach of white sand, which 
opposes the whole force of the Ocean, is found to 
be the summit of a rock which rises abruptly from 
an unknown depth, like a perpendicular wall. The 
whole of this rampart, as far as our senses can 
take cognizance of it, is composed of living coral, 
and the same substance forms the foundation of the 
curved and more elevated side which is smiling in 
the luxuriance and beauty of tropical vegetation. 
The elevation of the coral to the surface is not 
always abruptly perpendicular ; sometimes reefs of 
varying depths extend to a considerable distance 
in the form of successive platforms or terraces. In 
these regions may be seen islands in every stage 
of their formation: "some presenting little more 
than a point or summit of a branching coralline 
pyramid, at a depth scarcely discernible through the 
transparent waters ; others spreading, like submarine 
gardens or shrubberies, beneath the surface; or 
presenting here and there a little bank of broken 
coral and sand, over which the rolling wave occa- 
sionally breaks;" while others exist in the more 
advanced state that I have just described, the main 
bank sufficiently elevated to be permanently pro- 
tected from the waves, and already clothed with 
verdure, and the lagoon enclosed by the narrow 
bulwark of the coral reef. Though the rampart thus 
reared is sufficient to preserve the inner waters in 
a peaceful and mirror-like calmness, it must not 
be supposed that all access to them from the sea 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 269 

is excluded. It almost invariably happens that, in 
the line of reef, one or more openings occur, which, 
though sometimes narrow and intricate, so as scarcely 
to allow the passage of a native canoe, are not un- 
frequently of sufficient width and depth to permit 
the free ingress of large ships. This is a very re- 
markable instance of the Divine care over the little 
creatures which rear these solid structures; they 
appear to be endowed with an instinctive knowledge, 
that if the reef were carried uninterruptedly along 
from one point to another, so as completely to shut 
in the lagoon, the water within would soon become 
unfit to support their existence, and would ulti- 
mately be dried up. The advantage to man of these 
openings is very great; without them the islands 
might smile invitingly, but in vain ; no access could 
be obtained to them by shipping, through the tre- 
mendous surf by which their shores are lashed; but 
by these entrances the lovely lagoons are converted 
into the most quiet, safe, and commodious havens 
imaginable, where ships may lie, and wood and 
water, and refresh their crews, in security, though 
the tempest howl without. It is a scarcely less 
beneficent provision that the position of the open- 
ings is in most cases indicated so as to be visible 
at a great distance. Had there been merely an 
opening in the coral rock, it could not have been 
detected from the sea, except by the diminution 
of the foaming surf just at that spot; a circumstance 
that could scarcely be visible, unless the observer 
were opposite the aperture. But, in general, there 
is on each sida of the passage, a little islet, raised 

z2 



2t0 THE OCEAN. 

on the points of the reef, which, being commonly 
tufted with cocoa-nut trees, is perceptible as far off 
as the island itself, and forms a most convenient 
landmark. 

ISTotwithstanding that the highest point of these 
narrow islets is rarely more than a yard above the 
tide, it is a remarkable fact that fresh water is fre- 
quently found in them. It is probable that the coral 
rock acts as a filter, allowing the sea- water to perco- 
late through its porous substance, but excluding all 
its saline particles held in solution. 

Though I have described the two parts of a Coral 
Island, or Atoll, as it is called, as distinct, yet the 
difference is only in appearance ; the foundation on 
every side is the same, a coral reef rising to the sur- 
face : but the side most exposed to the action of the 
waves driven in by the trade- winds, is invariably the 
first to be projected, and attains a higher elevation 
than the leeward side. Neither must it be supposed 
that the belt to windward is always continuous, 
though the interruptions are comparatively few. A 
close inspection will likewise show that the outline 
of the whole reef possesses much less regularity of 
form than its aspect from a distance indicated. The 
form, however, is invariably a more or less close 
approach to a circle. Sometimes the land is con- 
tinuous through the whole circumference, with the 
exception of a channel or two into the lagoon, which 
presents the appearance of a circular pond with a 
verdant border surrounding it ; again, another atoll 
will be found which has brought its ring of reef 
scarcely to the surface, exposing, perhaps, a single 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 2U 

bare spot on the windward edge at the lowest ebb of 
spring tide. 

Captain Basil Hall has recorded some pleasing 
observations on this singular formation, in his voyage 
to Loo-Choo. He says — 

" The examination of a coral reef during the dif- 
ferent stages of one tide, is particularly interesting. 
When the sea has left it for some time, it becomes 
dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly 
hard and rugged ; but no sooner does the tide rise 
again, and the waves begin to wash over it, than 
millions of coral worms protrude themselves from 
holes on the surface, which were before quite in- 
visible. These animals are of a great variety of 
shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious numbers 
that in a short time the whole surface of the rock 
appears to be alive and in motion. The most com- 
mon of the worms at Loo-Choo was in the form of a 
star, with arms from four to six inches long, which 
it moved about with a rapid motion in all directions, 
probably in search of food. Others were so sluggish 
that they were often mistaken for pieces of the rock ; 
these were generally of a dark colour, and from four 
to five inches long, and two or three round. When 
the rock was broken from a spot near the level of 
high-water, it was found to be a hard, solid stone ; 
but if any part of it were detached at a level to 
which the tide reached every day, it was discovered 
to be full of worms, all of different lengths and 
colours, some being as fine as a thread, and several 
feet long, generally of a very bright yellow, and 
sometimes of a blue colour; while others resembled 



212 THE OCEAN. 

snails, and some were not unlike lobsters or prawns 
in shape, but soft, and not above two incbes long."* 
Some of the animals thus described by the Captain, 
were doubtless intruders that had sought shelter or 
food in the interstices of the coral : the true archi- 
tects of these wonderful structures are polypes of 
minute size, which, though of many varying species, 
and even genera, agree in the simplicity of their form 
and structure. They consist of a little oblong bag 
of jelly, closed at one end, but having the other 
extremity open, and surrounded by tentacles, usually 
six or eight in number, set like the rays of a star. 
Multitudes of these tiny creatures are associated in 
the secretion of a common etony skeleton, the coral, 
or madrepore ; in the minute orifices of which they 
reside, protruding their mouths and tentacles when 
under water, but withdrawing themselves by sudden 
contraction into their holes the moment they are 
molested. 

It was for a long time supposed that all the islands 
of coral formation were reared from their bases, 
fathomless depths in the Ocean, by the unaided efforts 
of these minute creatures ; and from exaggerated 
notions of the rapidity with which the process was 
going on, anticipations were frequently uttered that 
a large portion of the Pacific might, at no very dis- 
tant period, be occupied by the spreading structures 
united into a vast coral continent. More accurate 
observations have, however, satisfactorily proved that 
the living animals cannot exist at a greater depth 
than twenty or thirty fathoms, so that the whole of 

* Voyage to Loo-Choo, p. 75. (Constable's edit.) 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 2t3 

these animal secretions must have been deposited 
within that distance from the surface. At the same 
time, it is no less true that the water in the immediate 
vicinity of the islands is fathomless, and that the 
descent of their outer edge is remarkably abrupt 
and precipitous. The only satisfactory explanation of 
the phenomenon appears to be the one proposed and 
ably supported by Mr. Darwin, in his elaborate 
treatise on Coral reefs. Many islands of the com- 
mon rock formation are found in the Pacific, on the 
shelving sides of which, a few fathoms below water, 
the coral animals have fixed their stony habitations, 
forming what is called a fringing reef, distinguished 
from others by being immediately attached to the 
land, without the intervention of any lagoon or 
channel of water. Mr. Darwin supposes that every 
island in the Pacific originally presented this struc- 
ture, but that wherever a variation at present exists, 
the solid rock has been gradually, and perhaps very 
slowly, subsiding to a lower level. Now, let us 
assume this state of things for a moment, and look at 
the results. "We must, however, mention two well- 
ascertained instincts of the Polype : the one is, that 
it works up towards the light ; the other, that its 
proceedings are most vigorous at the outer edge, 
where it is washed by the beating waves. Let A 
represent the section of a rocky island ; B, B, the level 
of low- water ; and D, the reef of coral fringing the 
coast. After the lapse of time, during which it has 
been subsiding, the water-level stands at &, h; the 
coral at D has died from the too great depth, but the 
animals have been working upwards upon the dead 

18 



2^4 THE OCEAN. 

matter, so that living coral is still near the surface ; 
the superior vigour of the species inhabiting the sea- 
ward edge, however, has caused that edge to be more 




Section op Coral Island. 

elevated than the interior, as nt d,d; so that the 
appearance is now that of a rocky isle, diminished in 
extent, surrounded bj a reef at some distance, sepa- 
rated by the intervention of a shallow channel, e, e: 
this is exactly the appearance of Tahiti and the 
larger islands generally, as I shall mention more fully 
when 1 come to the volcanic formation. The subsi- 
dence still goes on; and, after a while, the water, 
i3, ]3, is level with the summit of the island, which, of 
course, is now an island no longer; the growth of the 
coral has kept pace with the depression, and it is 
still at the surface, as at fi, 8 ; the more slowly grow- 
ing species of the interior are still overflowed, and, as 
the island is submerged in the centre, the water, «, f , 
is no longer an annular channel, but a round lagoon ; 
and thus we have an atoll, as at first described. The 
subsequent process of elevating and clothing the new 
islets is a rapid one. Chamisso observes, " As soon 
as it has reached such a height that it remains 
almost dry at low-water at the time of ebb, the 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 275 

corals leave off building higher; sea-shells, frag- 
ments of coral, sea-hedgehog shells, and their broken- 
off prickles, are united by the burning sun through 
the medium of the cementing calcareous sand, which 
has arisen from the pulverization of the above-men- 
tioned shellS; into one whole or solid stone, which, 
strengthened by the continual throwing up of new 
materials, gradually increases in thickness, till it at 
last becomes so high that it is covered only during 
some seasons of the year by the spring-tides. The 
heat of the sun so penetrates the mass of stone when 
it is dry, that it splits in many places, and breaks off 
in flakes. These flakes, so separated, are raised one 
upon another by the waves, at the time of high- 
water. The always-active surf throws blocks of coral 
(frequently of a fathom in length, and three or four 
feet thick), and shells of marine animals, between 
and upon the foundation stones. After this the cal- 
careous sand lies undisturbed, and offers to the seeds 
of trees and plants cast upon it by the waves, a soil 
upon which they rapidly grow, to overshadow its 
dazzling white surface. Entire trunks of trees, 
which are carried by the rivers from other countries 
and islands, find here, at length, a resting-place, after 
their long wanderings; with these come some small 
animals, such as lizards and insects, as the first inha- 
bitants. Even before the trees form a wood, the real 
sea-birds nestle there; strayed land-birds take refuge 
in the bushes; and at a much later period, when 
the work has been long since completed, man also 
appears, builds his hut on the fruitful soil formed 
by the corruption of the leaves of the trees, and 



2Y6 THE OCEAN. 

calls himself lord and proprietor of this new crea- 
tion."* 

The species of Polypes which contribute to the 
formation of coral structures are very numerous, 
and differ greatly from each other in the forms of 
their respective habitations. Some form large round- 
ed masses, with numerous winding depressions, as 
the Brainstones {Meandrina)] some are studded with 
holes, filled with thin shelly plates placed perpen- 
dicularly, and converging to a point in the centre, 
as Astrcea; some assume the appearance of a mush- 
room, as Agaricia; but the most general form is 
that of an irregular, branching shrub. The various 
kinds are not found scattered indiscriminately over 
the whole edifice, but each occupying its own zone 
and position, each performing its own part, assigned 
by God, in carrying up the wondrous architecture. 
The principal and most important place is filled by 
the genus Pontes^ which occupies the outside of the 
reef, at the exposed edge, constructing large rounded 
masses. The next in importance is the Millepora 
complanata, which forms thick vertical plates, unit- 
ing at different angles by their edges, so as to pre- 
sent the appearance of a honeycomb: the marginal 
plates only being alive. These two kinds alone 
are able to endure the intermitting exposure to 
which the upper edge is subject, in being conti- 
nually washed over by the surf; other species are 
found a few fathoms down. Inside the lagoon, 
there are quite distinct sorts, generally brittle, and 
thinly branched; while great round Brainstones 

.*Kotzebue's Voyage. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 211 

{Meandrina\ and flower-like CaryopMlla^ occupy 
the bottom. In the shallow hollows of the reef, 
Pocillopora verrucosa^ a species having short waved 
plates or branches, is found: when alive it is a beau- 
tiful object, being of a delicate pale crimson hue. 

Conflicting statements have been made respect- 
ing the activity of the building processes going on 
in the present age; some aflirming that the reefs 
have acquired no perceptible addition, either to 
their height or extent, since they have been known ; 
others anticipating a speedy filling up of the Pacific 
from their rapid growth. The truth seems to be, 
that, while in some localities no change in extent 
can be traced through many years, in others very 
rapid enlargements are made. As showing the rate 
at which coral grows under favourable circumstances, 
Mr. Darwin mentions two or three interesting cases 
In the lagoon of Keeling Atoll, a channel was dug 
for the passage of a schooner built upon the island 
through the reef into the sea; in ten years after 
wards, when it was examined, it was found almost 
choked up with living coral. Dr. Allan, at Mada- 
gascar, placed several masses of coral, of different 
species, each weighing ten pounds, in the sea three 
feet beneath the surface, where they were secured 
from removal by stakes. This was in December; 
and in the month of July following, they were found 
nearly extending to the surface, immovably fixed to 
the rock, and grown to several feet in length. A 
ship in the Persian Gulf, in the course of twenty 
months, had her copper encased with living coral to 
the thickness of two feet. 

2A 



278 THE OCEAN. 

It may excite surprise, that the openings in the 
reefs are not gradually filled up in those cases 
where no stream of fresh water flows into the sea. 
But it appears that the presence of any sediment 
is so annoying to the animals, as to prevent their 
acting with energy. This may be produced in 
various modes : there are many animals which 
feed on the living coral. Mr. Darwin observed 
two Parrot-fishes {Scarus\ one outside and the 
other inside the reef, both engaged in devouring 
it: many small Mollusca penetrate into it, and 
the Sea-cucumbers {Holuthuria)^ which are very 
numerous and large, are continually nibbling at it. 
The rolling of dead masses by the surf must also 
chafe away particles continually, and the presence 
of the deposited sand thus formed is doubtless one 
reason why the coral grows languidly within the 
lagoon ; whereas the abraded atoms on the outside 
are at once washed off by the waves, and sink to 
the bottom of the Ocean. Now, the water which 
is continually thrown into the lagoon by the surf 
breaking over the reef, can find an outlet only 
through the openings of which I am speaking ; and 
thus a constant current is maintained through them, 
and particularly at the sides, where the opposing 
waves offer less resistance, carrying out some of the 
sediment, and depositing it in its course on the 
coral margins of the aperture. The coral sand made 
by these abraded fragments is quickly cemented 
by the influence of the sun into a solid mass, where 
exposed to the air; and it is, perhaps, owing to this 
property that the numberless little islets are formed 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 2Y9 

along the reef, even where there is no aperture. 
The surf in violent gales can roll up upon the reef 
masses of torn-o£f coral, weighing many hundred- 
weights; such a mass, once lodged, would be the 
nucleus of an islet ; the sand would speedily accu- 
mulate around it, which the sun would soon cement 
into a mass, and then the islet would be ready for 
vegetation. 

The following lines are beautifully descriptive 
of the formation of an atoll, though the author 
seems to hold the erroneous notion of the whole 
structure being elevated from the bottom by the 
coral polypes : — 

" Millions of millions thus, from age to age, 

With simplest skill, and toil unweariable. 

No moment and no movement unimproved^ 

Laid line on line, on terrace terrace spread. 

To swell the heightening, brightening, gradual mound, 

By marvellous structure climbing tow'rds the day. 

Each wrought alone, yet altogether wrought; 
, Unconscious, not unworthy, instruments, 

By which a Hand invisible was rearing 

A new creation in the secret deep. 

Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them; 

Hence what Omnipotence alone could do 

Worms did. ****** 
"Atom by atom thus the burthen grew, 

Even like an infant in the womb, till Time 

Deliver'd Ocean of that monstrous birth, 

A Coral Island, stretching east and west, 

In God's own language to its parent saying, 

^Thus far, no farther, shalt thou go; and here 

Shall thy proud waves be stayed :' — A point at first 

It peor'd above those waves; a point so small, 

I just perceived it, fix'd where all was floating; 

And when a bubble cross'd it, the blue film 



280 THE OCEAN. 

Expanded like a sky above the speck ; 

That speck became a hand-breadth; day and night 

It spread, accumulated, and ere long 

Presented to my view a dazzling plain, 

White as the moon amid the sapphire sea; 

Bare at low water, and as still as death ; 

But when the tide came gurgling o'er the surface, 

'Twas like a resurrection of the dead; 

From graves innumerable, punctures fine 

In the close coral, capillary swarms 

Of reptiles, horrent as Medusa's snakes, 

Cover'd the bald-pate reef; then all was life, 

And indefatigable industry ; 

The artizans were twisting to and fro, 

In idle-seeming convolutions; yet 

They never vahish'd with the ebbing surge. 

Till pellicle on pellicle, and layer 

On layer, was added to the growing mass. 

Ere long the reef o'ertopped the spring-flood's height. 

And mock'd the billows when they leap'd upon it. 

Unable to maintain their slippery hold, 

And falling down in foam-wreaths round its verge. 

Steep were the flanks, with precipices sharp, 

Descending to their base in ocean-gloom, 

Chasms few, and narrow, and irregular, 

Form'd harbours, safe at once and perilous — 

Safe for defence, but perilous to enter. 

A sea-lake shone amidst the fossil isle, 

Reflecting in a ring its cliffs and caverns. 

With heaven itself seen like a lake below."* 

The islands of the second class seem to have been 
originally of the same structure as those already 
noticed, but have been elevated to the height of 
one hundred to five hundred feet, by some unknown 
agency. The character of their vegetation resem- 
bles that of the volcanic isles, of which I shall pre- 
sently speak, but they do not possess their sub- 

* Montgomery's Pelican Island. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



281 



lime grandeur, nor the peculiar loveliness of the 
atolls. The rocks are crystallized carbonate of lime, 
supposed to have been originally coral, " but, by 
exposure to the action of the atmospheric air, to- 
gether with that of the water percolating through 
them, the loose particles of calcareous matter have 
been washed away, and the whole mass has become 
harder and brighter." In the islands named Atiu 




Crystal Islands. 



and Mauke, the latter of which was discovered by 
Mr. Williams in 1823, that gentleman found seve- 
ral extensive caverns, having a stratum of crystal- 
lized coral, fifteen feet in thickness, as a roof. In 
one of these exquisitely beautiful caverns he walke<i 
about for two hours, and found no termination 
to its windings. This circumstance, together with 

2 a2 



282 . THE OCEAN. i 

the absence of scoria, lava, and other volcanic pro- 
ducts, in these islands, has led him to the conclu- 
sion that they have been elevated by some expan- 
sive power, or volcanic agency, without eruption.* 

In one of the Tonga Isles there is a very curious 
submarine cavern, connected with an interesting 
legend. Mr. Mariner, who describes it, informs us 
that being in the vicinity one day, a chief proposed 
to visit this cave. One after another of the young 
men dived into the water without rising again, and 
at length the narrator followed one of them, and, 
guided by the light reflected from his heels, en- 
tered a large opening in the rock, and presently 
emerged in a cavern. The entrance is at least a 
fathom beneath the surface of the sea at low- water, 
in the side of a rock upwards of sixty feet in height; 
and leads into a grotto about forty feet wide, and 
of about the same height, branching off into two 
chambers. As it is apparently closed on every side, 
there is no light but the feeble ray transmitted 
through the sea; yet this was found sufficient, after 
the eye had been a few minutes accustomed to the 
obscurity, to show objects with some little distinct- 
ness. Mr. Mariner, however, desirous of better 
light, dived out again, procured his pistol, and after 
carefully wrapping it up, as well as a torch, re-en- 
tered the cavern as speedily as possible. Both the 
pistol and torch, on being unwrapped, were found 
perfectly dry, and by flashing the powder of the 
priming, the latter was lighted, and the beautiful 
grotto illuminated. The roof was hung with sta- 

* Williams's Missionary Enterprices, p. 28. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 283 

lactites in fantastic forms, bearing some resemblance 
to the Gothic arches and carved ornaments of some 
old church. After having examined the curiosities 
of the place, the party sat down to drink cava^ while 
an old chief communicated some interesting parti- 
culars in the history of the grotto. 

In former times there lived a governor of one of 
the neighbouring islands, who exercised his autho- 
rity with the most grinding tyranny and injustice. 
A conspiracy against his life was formed by a sub- 
ordinate chief, which was discovered, and he himself 
condemned to death with his family. One of 
his daughters, however, a beautiful girl, was re- 
served for a more hateful destiny, that of becoming 
the wife of the cruel tyrant. It happened that 
another young chief, who had long loved this maiden, 
had, a little while before, accidentally discovered 
the submarine cavern, when diving in pursuit of 
turtle. He had kept his discovery a profound 
secret, reserving it as a safe retreat for himself, in 
case he should be unsuccessful in a plan of revolt, 
which he also had in view. Ko sooner, however, 
were the tyrant's decisions known than he hastened 
to the damsel, and acquainting her with her danger, 
besought her to escape with him. The emergency 
was great ; little solicitation sufficed to obtain her 
consent; the woods concealed her until evening, 
when her lover brought his canoe to a lonely part 
of the beach, in which she embarked with him. 
As he paddled her across the rippling waves, he 
made known to her his discovery of the grotto, 
in which he proposed to conceal her until they 



284 THE OCEAN. 

could find an opportunity for escape to a distant 
island. Arrived at the cliff, he conducted her 
through the waters to her new abode, where they 
rested awhile from their fears and fatigue, par- 
taking of some refreshment, which he had previously 
stored there for himself. Early in the morning he 
returned home to avoid suspicion; but failed not, 
in the course of the day, to repair again to the place 
which held all that was dear to him: he brought 
her mats to lie on, the finest gnatoo for a change 
of dress, the best of food for her support, sandal- 
wood oil, cocoa-nuts, and every thing he could think 
of to render her life as comfortable as possible. 
He gave her as much of his company as prudence 
would allow, and at the most appropriate times, 
lest the prying eye of curiosity should find out his 
retreat. 

But, though happy in each other's affections, 
during their sojourn in this secluded cave, the lerjgth 
of time he found it necessary to be absent from 
his bride, to prevent suspicion and detection, was 
a great source of discomfort ; and he longed for 
an opportunity to arrive, when he might without 
hazard acknowledge her as his chosen wife, and 
restore her to liberty and security. At length he 
proposed to his vassals an emigration to the Feejee 
Islands, and requested them to accompany him. 
They complied, but asked him respectfully, if he 
would not take a Tonga wife with him. He 
laughingly replied, no; but that he might pos- 
sibly find one by the way. Having put to sea, 
he steered by the cliffs of Hoonga, the isle of the 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 285 

grotto ; and suddenly bidding his crew wait while 
he fetched his wife, dived, to' their astonishment, 
beneath the wave. They waited awhile in the 
greatest suspense and wonder; and at length, when 
they had despaired of seeing him more, how was 
their astonishment increased to see him suddenly 
appear, accompanied by a lovely female! Soon, 
however, they recognized her features as those of 
one whom they had believed to have been slain, 
in the general massacre of her family ; but having 
been briefly informed by the chief of the events 
that had transpired, they joyfully congratulated him 
on his happiness. At length they arrived safely 
at Feejee, where they resided under the protection 
of a chief two years; when, hearing of the death 
of the tyrant from whose persecutions they had fled, 
the young chief returned with his wife to their 
native island, and lived long in peace and happiness. 
The only point of difficulty in this pleasing story 
is the time which the young bride is said to have 
spent in the cavern; viz., two or three months; as 
it is not easy to understand how the air could have 
remained so long fit for the support of life, if un- 
renewed by communication with the atmosphere. 
However, it is quite probable, that there might 
have been clefts in the ceiling, which might admit 
air without admitting light; although Mr. Mariner 
could discover none, even by swimming up each 
of the chambers with the torch in his hand. He, 
however, bears testimony, expressly, to the purity 
of the air during his visit to the retreat, so that 
we will not reject the narrative on that account. 



286 



THE OCEAN. 



The islands of the third class differ greatly in 
appearance and structure from those of either of 
the preceding. Abundant traces of their volcanic 
origin show that they have been elevated from the 
bed of the Ocean by the resistless energy of fire, 
which has given a bold and irregular form to their 
rocky mountains that greatly increases the romantic 




Volcanic Islands. 



beauty of their scenery. Every visitor to the South 
Seas has spoken in eulogy of these lovely islands. 
The highly- wrought descriptions given in Cook's 
voyages are declared by recent writers to be no 
whit beyond the reality. Instead of the long, low 
coral island, with its grove of cocoa-nut trees almost 



THE PACIFIC • OCEAN. 28Y 

springing from the water's edge, these islands rise 
up from the sea in tall cliffs, or gentle slopes, while 
the towering mountains of. the interior, wooded to 
their summits, pierce the clouds. " The mountains 
frequently diverge in short ranges from the interior 
towards the shore, though some rise like pyramids 
with pointed summits, and others present a conical 
or sugar-loaf form, while the outline of several 
is regular, and almost circular." In some places 
the mountain ranges terminate in abrupt precipices 
frowning over the Pacific, that frets and foams be- 
low; in others, there is a broad belt of level land, 
of the most fertile character, and rich in the va- 
rious productions of a tropical region. To these are 
now added charms of another character. When 
visited by Cook, there was the loveliness and mag- 
nificence of Nature, but that was all ; man was evil ; 
plunged in the grossest idolatry, cruelty, and licen- 
tiousness, he strangely contrasted with the scenes 
around him: but, now that the glad tidings of sal- 
vation through the Lord Jesus Christ have been, 
by the grace of God, made known to them, how 
incomparably is the scene enhanced ! The wretched 
hut is exchanged for the neat and picturesque cot- 
tage ; cultivated fields and pleasant gardens chequer 
the mountain sides ; the sound of the axe and ham- 
mer has replaced the savage war-cry, and the peace- 
ful people flock to the worship of the true God, 
instead of a licentious dance before a hideous idol. 
O, how far does the moral beauty of such a change 
as this exceed the beauty of mere natural scenery, 
though it be lovely as is that of Tahiti! Captain 



288 THE OCEAN. 

Gambler has thus described his emotions on visit- 
ing these scenes : — " After passing the reef of coral 
which forms the harbour, astonishment and delight 
kept us silent for some moments, and were succeeded 
by a burst of unqualified approbation at the scene 
before us. "We were in an excellent harbour, upon 
whose shores industry and comfort were plainly per- 
ceptible; for in every direction, white cottages, pre- 
cisely English, were seen peeping from amongst the 
rich foliage which everywhere clothes the lowland 
in these islands. Upon various little elevations be- 
yond these, were others, which gave extent and 
animation to the whole. The point on the left, 
in going in,* is low, and covered with wood, with 
several cottages along the shore. On the right, 
the high land of the interior slopes down with 
gentle, gradual descent, and terminates in an ele- 
vated point, which juts out into the harbour, form- 
ing two little bays. The principal and largest is 
to the left, viewing them from seaward; in this, 
and extending up the valley, the village is situ- 
ated. The other, which is small, has only a few 
houses; but so quiet, so retired, that, it seems the 
abode of peace and perfect content. Industry flou- 
rishes here. The chiefs take a pride in building 
their own houses, which are now all after the Euro- 
pean manner; and think meanly of themselves, if 
they do not excel the lower classes .'in the arts 
necessary for their construction. Their wives, also^ 
surpass their inferiors in making cloth. The queen 

* The captain is speaking of the harhour of Fa-re, in the island of 
Huaheine. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 289 

and her daugliter-in-law, dressed in tlie English 
fashion, received ns in their neat little cottage. 

"The sound of industry was music to my ears. 
Hammers, saws, and adzes, were heard in every 
direction. Houses in frame met the eye in all parts, 
in different stages of forwardness. Many boats, after 
^our manner, were building, and lime burning for 
cement and whitewashing. 

" I walked out to the point forming the division 
between the two bays. When I had reached it, I 
sat down to enjoy the sensations created by the 
lovely scene before me. I cannot describe it; but 
it possessed charms independent of the beautiful 
scenery and rich vegetation. The blessings of Chris- 
tianity were diffused among the fine people who 
inhabited it ; a taste for industrious employment had 
taken deep root ; a praiseworthy emulation to excel 
in the arts which contribute to their welfare and 
comfort had seized upon all, and in consequence 
civilization was advancing with rapid strides." 

The volcanic islands, like the first-described class, 
are protected from the fury of the tempestuous 
Ocean by the natural rampart of a coral reef. 
The reef is often a mile and a half, or two miles 
from the beach, though sometimes it approaches 
so close as to be connected with it, interrupting 
in that part the continuity of the lagoon. The 
usual width of the coral rock is from five to twenty 
or thirty yards; yet over this the waves usually 
break, and when rolling in upon an unbroken line 
of reef, perhaps two miles in length, the spectacle 
is one of surpassing grandeur and beauty. The 

19 2B 



290 



THE OCEAN. 




BOLABOLA. 



island of Bolabola, bowever, is surrounded by a ring 
of land almost unbroken, on wbich are growing 
groves of cocoa-nuts ; the reef being wholly elevated 
above the sea. 

The openings in the reefs in the larger islands 
are almost invariably placed opposite the mouth 
of a river. One can readily understand, that a 
current of fresh water would be detrimental to the 
health of a polype formed for living in the sea, 
and therefore the openings here might have been 
expected. But this effect is increased by the sedi- 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 291 

ment deposited, as has already been observed in 
speaking of tbe coral islands. The little green 
wooded islets, wHch serve as gateways here, as in 
the former case, are susceptible of ready explanation. 
Where a river empties itself, a great quantity of 
vegetable matter, rubbish, and earth, is perpetually 
carried down, and this would naturally be deposited 
at the shalfows on either side, where the stream 
met the boiling waves of the Ocean. The heap 
would very soon be raised, by accumulations, above 
the surface of the tide, decomposition would take 
place, seeds washed down would spring up, and, 
under a tropical climate, the young soil would 
speedily be clothed with trees and shrubs. In the 
small isles where there is no efflux of fresh water, 
the process would be more protracted, but not essen- 
tially different: the current driven in through the 
aperture would bring sea-weeds, and the floating 
matters washed off the land, and Avhen the soil was 
once raised above the surface, though composed 
of but sand and pulverized coral, the cocoa-nut 
would grow and thrive. It is remarkable to see 
this graceful palm rising from the very sea-sand, 
where its roots are daily wet with salt-water, yet 
toweriDg to the height of seventy feet, throwing 
out its elegant plumose fronds, and producing its 
clusters of flowers and fruit, as luxuriantly as if 
it were growing in the rich alluvial valleys of the 
interior. These little fairy islets, so useful as well 
as ornamental, give a very peculiar character to the 
prospects from the land. " Detached from the large 
islands, and viewed in connection with the Ocean 



292 THE OCEAN. 

rolling tlirougli the channel, on the one side, or the 
foaming billows dashing, and roaring, and breaking 
over the reef on the other, they appear like emerald 
gems of the Ocean, contrasting their solitude and 
verdant beauty with the agitated element sporting in 
grandeur around." 

Upon the mind of a European, the sailing in a 
small vessel through one of these sheltered lagoons 
has a most novel and interesting effect. The shore, 
on the one hand, presenting its shifting aspects 
of beauty, as the boat skims past, the convol- 
vulus and other brilliant creeping plants entwined 
about the dark rocks, or trailing in unrestrained 
wildness over the sands; the solemn groves, now 
revealing their sombre and shady retreats, now pro- 
jecting their massy foliage in full sun-light; the 
valuable bread-fruit {Artocarpus\ the light and 
elegant aito {Casuarina\ the magnificent tamanu 
{Callophyllum\ with its glossy evergreen leaves, the 
hutu {Barringtonia) of giant height, adorned with 
large flowers of white and pink, are relieved by the 
coral-tree {Erythrina\ with its light-green waving 
leaves and bunches of scarlet blossoms, and the 
hoary foliage of the candle-nut {Alurites). The 
cocoa-nut, always beautiful, whether growing alone 
or in groves, but particularly pleasing when seen 
planted around a neat white-washed cottage, in 
company with the broad-leaved plantain or banana ; 
the light tree-ferns displaying their elegant tracery 
against the sky, the native chestnut {Tuscarpus\ 
rearing its stately head above its fellows, and mark- 
ing the position of a running stream; — these and 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 293^ 

many otTier trees of beauty and usefulness strike the 
eye of a stranger. Seaward, there is the long line of 
the reef; a low but impregnable barrier, with the 
surging wave foamiug over it; and, beyond, the 
boundless Pacific, unbroken by any object, save the 
white-sailed canoe in the distance, scarcely distin- 
guishable from the crest of a wave, but perhaps 
freighted with the humble native missionary, bear- 
ing to some neighbouring island that gospel of 
Christ which he has found to be "the power of 
God unto Qiis] salvation." Beneath and around is 
the placid and lake-like lagoon, the progress of the 
boat alone dimpling its smooth face. So transparent 
is the water, that the varied bottom is distinctly 
visible many fathoms down, showing the growth of 
living coral branching in fantastic imitation of the 
shrubs and trees on the shore, and representing to 
the charmed imagination an extensive submarine 
shrubbery of many hues. Even the irregular move- 
ments of the spined urchins {Echini) are clearly seen 
as they crawl upon the sands, and the multitudes of 
playful little rock-fishes {Labri\ of every rich and 
glowing tint, gliding with easy and graceful motion 
among the branches, rivet the spectator's attention. 

Mr. Ellis thus describes his feeling in a similar 
situation, walking on the lonely sea- beach by moon- 
light: "The evening was fair, the moon shone 
brightly, and her mild beams, silvering the foliage 
of the shrubs that grew near the shore, and playing 
on the rippled and undulating wave of the Ocean, 
added a charm to the singularity of the prospect, 
and enlivened the loneliness of our situation. The 

2b2 



294 THE OCEAN. 

scene was unusually impressive. On one side, tlie 
mountains of the interior, having their outline edged, 
as it were, with silver from the rays of the moon, 
rose in lofty magnificence; while the indistinct form, 
rich and diversified verdure, of the shrubs and trees, 
increased the effect of the scene. On the other 
hand was the illimitable sea, rolling in solemn ma- 
jesty its swelling waves over the rocks which de- 
fended the spot on which we stood. The most pro- 
found silence prevailed, and we might have fancied 
that we were the only beings in existence; for no 
sound was heard, excepting the gentle rustling of 
the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, as the light breeze 
from the mountain swept through them; or the 
hollow roar of the surf, and the rolling of the 
foaming wave, as it broke over the distant reef, 
and the splashing of the paddle of our canoe, as 
it approached the shore. It was impossible, at 
such a season, to behold this scene, exhibiting im- 
pressively the grandeur of creation and the insig- 
nificance of man, without experiencing emotions of 
adoring wonder and elevated devotion, and exclaim- 
ing with the Psalmist, 'When I consider thy hea- 
vens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that 
thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that 
thou visitest him ?' "* 

The same pleasing writer has given us a vivid pic- 
ture of the emotions awakened by passing a night 
upon the open sea in a small boat. He was pro- 
ceeding from the island of Eimeo to Huaheine: 

* Polynesian Researches, 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 245. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 295 

''Nothing can exceed the solemn stillness of a night 
at sea within the tropics, when the wind is light, 
and the water comparatively smooth. Few periods 
and situations amid the diversified circumstances 
of human life, are equally adapted to excite con- 
templation, or to impart more elevated conceptions 
of the Divine Being, and more just impressions of 
the insignificancy and dependence of man. In order 
to avoid the vertical rays of a tropical sun, and the 
painful effects of the reflection from the water, 
many of my voyages among the Georgian and So- 
ciety Islands have been made during the night. At 
these periods I have often been involuntarily brought 
under the influence of a train of thought and feel- 
ing peculiar to the season and the situation, but 
never more powerfully so than on the present oc- 
casion. 

"The night was moonless, but not dark. The 
stars increased in number and variety as the even- 
ing advanced, until the whole firmament was over- 
spread with luminaries of every magnitude and 
brilliancy. The agitation of the sea had subsided, 
and the waters around us appeared to unite with the 
indistinct, though visible, horizon. In the heaven 
and the ocean, all powers of vision were lost; while 
the brilliant lights in the one being reflected from 
the surface of the other, gave a correspondence to the 
appearance of both, and almost forced the illusion 
on the mind, that our little bark was suspended in 
the centre of two united hemispheres. 

''The perfect quietude that surrounded us was 
equally impressive. ISTo objects were visible but the 



296 THE OCEAN. 

lamps of heaven and the luminous appearances of the 
deep. The silence was only broken by the murmurs 
of the breeze passing through our matting sails, or 
the dashing of the spray from the bows of our boat, 
excepting at times, when we heard, or fancied we 
heard, the blowing of a shoal of porpoises, or the 
more alarming sounds of a spouting whale. 

" At a season such as this, when I have reflected 
on our actual situation, so far removed, in the event 
of any casualty, from human observation and assist- 
ance, and preserved from certain death only by a few 
feet of thin board, which my own unskilful hands 
had nailed together, a sense of the wakeful care of 
the Almighty has alone afforded composure. 

"The contemplation of the heavenly bodies, al- 
though they exhibit the wisdom and majesty of God, 
who 'bringeth out their host by number, and call-' 
eth them all by names, by the greatness of His 
might,' impressed at the same time the conviction 
that I was far from home, and those scenes which 
in memory were associated with a starlight evening 
in the land I had left. Many of the stars which 
I had beheld in England were visible here: the 
constellations of the zodiac, the splendours of Orion, 
and the mild twinkling of the Pleiades, were seen ; 
but the northern pole-star, the steady beacon of 
juvenile astronomical observation, the Great Bear, 
and much that was peculiar to a northern sky, were 
wanting. The effect of mental associations, con- 
nected with the appearance of the heavens, is sin- 
gular and impressive. During a voyage which I 
subsequently made to the Sandwich Islands, many 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 291 

a pleasant "hour was spent in watching the rising of 
those luminaries of heaven, which we had been 
accustomed to behold in our native land, but which 
for many years had been invisible. When the polar 
star rose above the horizon, and Ursa Major, with 
other familiar constellations, appeared, we hailed 
them as long-absent friends; and could not but 
feel that we were nearer England than when we 
left Tahiti, simply from beholding the stars that 
had enlivened our evening excursions at home."'^ 

A stranger is forcibly struck with the remark- 
able fearlessness which the natives of these islands 
have of the sea. They appear almost as amphi- 
bious as seals, sporting about in tbe deep sea for 
many hours, sometimes for nearly a whole day 
together. No sooner does a ship approach a 
large island, than the inhabitants swim off to wel- 
come her; and long before she begins to take in 
sail, she is surrounded by human beings of both 
sexes, apparently as much at home in the Ocean 
as the fishes themselves. The children are taken 
to the water when but a day or two old, and many 
are able to swim as soon as they are able to walk. 
In coasting along the shore, it is a rare thing to 
pass a group of cottages, at any hour of the day, 
without seeing one or* more bands of children joy- 
ously playing in the sea. They have several dis- 
tinct games which are played in the water, and 
which are followed with exceeding avidity, not only 
by children, but by the adult population. One of 
these is the fastening of a long board or pole on 

* Poly. Res. iii. 164. 



298. THE OCEAN. 

a sort of stage, where the rocks are abrupt, in such 
a manner that it shall project far over the water : 
then they chase one another along the board, each 
in turn leaping from the end into the sea. They are 
also fond of diving from the yard-arms or bowsprit 
of a ship. But the most favourite pastime of all, and 
one in which all classes and ages, and both sexes, 
engage with peculiar delight, is swimming in the 
surf. Mr. Ellis has seen some of the highest chiefs, 
between fifty and sixty years of age, large and cor- 
pulent men, engage in this game with as much 
interest as children. A board about six feet long 
and a foot wide, slightly thinner at the edges than 
at the middle, is prepared for this amusement, 
stained and polished, and preserved with great care 
by being constantly oiled, and hung up in their dwell- 
ings. With this in his hand, which he calls the 
wave-sliding board, each native repairs to the reef, 
particularly when the sea is running high, and the 
surf is dashing in with more than ordinary violence, 
as on such occasions the pleasure is the greater. 
They choose a place where the rocks are twenty or 
thirty feet under water, and shelve for a quarter of 
a mile or more out to sea. The waves break at this 
distance, and the whole space between it and the 
shore is one mass of boiling foam. Each person 
now swims, pushing hi& board before him, out to 
sea, diving under the waves as they curl and break, 
until he is arrived outside the rocks. He now 
lays himself flat on his breast along his board, 
and waits the approach of a huge billow; when 
it comes, he adroitly balances himself on its sum- 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 299 

mit, and paddling with, his hands, is borne on the 
crest of the advancing wave, amidst the foam and 
spray, till within a yard or two of the shore or 
rocks. Then, when a stranger expects to see him 
the next moment dashed to death, he slides off his 
board, and catching it by the middle, dives sea- 
ward under the wave, and comes up behind, laugh- 
ing and whooping, again to swim out as before. 
The utmost skill is required, in coming in, to keep 
the position on the top of the wave ; for, if the 
board get too forward, the swimmer will be over- 
turned and thrown upon the beach; and, if it fall 
behind, he will be buried beneath the succeeding 
wave ; yet some of the natives are so expert as to 
sit, and even to stand upright upon their board, 
while it is thus riding in the foam. 

Their sport is, however, not unfrequently disturbed 
by the appearance of a shark. This terrific animal is 
particularly abundant among the South Sea Islands, 
and remarkably bold and ferocious. The cry of 
"A Shark!" among the surf swimmers will instantly 
set them in the utmost terror, and generally they fly 
with precipitation to the shore; though sometimes 
they unite and endeavour to frighten him away with 
their shouting and splashing. Often, however, the 
'animal is too determined lightly to give up his prey, 
as was the case in the following instance recorded by 
Mr. Eichards of the Sandwich Islands : — 

"At nine o'clock in the morning of June 14th, 
1826, while sitting at my writing-desk, I heard 
a simultaneous scream from multitudes of people, 
* Pau i ka mano !' (Destroyed by the shark !) The 



300 



THE OCEAN. 



beach was instantly lined by hundreds of persons 
and a few of the most resolute threw a large canoe 
into the water, and, alike regardless of the Shark 




White Shark. 
the attitude op the fish in taking its prey. 



and the high rolling surf, sprang to the relief of 
their companion. It was too late; the Shark had 
already seized his prey. The affecting sight was 
only a few yards from my door, and while I stood 
watching, a large wave almost filled the canoe, and 
at the same instant a part of the mangled body was 
seen at the bow of the canoe, and the Shark swim- 
ming towards it at her stern. When the swell had 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 301 

rolled by, the water was too shallow for the Shark 
to swim. The remains, therefore, were taken into 
the canoe, and brought ashore. The water was 
so much stained by the blood, that we discovered 
a red tinge in all the foaming billows, as they 
approached the beach. 

"The unhappy sufferer was an active lad about 
fourteen years old, who left my door only about 
half an hour previous to the fatal accident. I saw 
his mother, in the extremity of her anguish, plunge 
into the water, and swim towards the bloody spot, 
entirely forgetful of the power of her former 
god."* 

"A number of people, perhaps a hundred, were 
at this time playing in the surf, which was higher 
than usual. Those who were nearest to the vic- 
tim, heard him shriek, perceived him to strike with 
his right hand, and at the same instant saw a Shark 
seize his arm. Then followed the cry which I 
heard, which echoed from one end of Latraina to 
the other. All who were playing in the water made 
the utmost speed to the shore, and those who were 
standing on the beach saw the surf- board of the 
unhappy sufferer floating on the water, without any 
one to guide it. When the canoe reached the spot, 
they saw nothing but the blood with which the 
water was stained for a considerable distance, and 
by which they traced the remains whither they 
had been carried by the Shark or driven by the 
swell. The body was cut in two by the Shark, just 

* The Shark was formerly worshipped in the Sandwich Islands. 
2 C 



302 THE OCEAN. 

above the hips; and the lower part, together with 
the right arm, was gone."* 

A dreadful instance of the voracity of these for- 
midable animals occurred a few years ago among 
the Society Islands. Upwards of thirty natives were 
passing from one island to another, in a large double 
canoe, which consists of two canoes fastened toge- 
ther, side by side, by strong horizontal beams, 
lashed to the gunwales by cordage. Being overtaken 
by a storm, the canoes were torn apart, and were 
incapable, singly, of floating upright. In vain the 
crew attempted to balance them — they were every 
moment overturned. Their only resource was to 
form a hasty raft of such loose boards and spars 
as were in the craft, on which they hoped to drift 
ashore. But it happened, from the small size of 
their raft, and their aggregated weight, that they 
were so deep in the water, that the waves washed 
above their knees. Tossed about thus, they soon 
became exhausted with hunger and fatigue; when 
the Sharks began to collect around them, and soon 
had the boldness to seize one and another from the 
raft, who, being destitute of any weapon of defence, 
became an easy prey. The number and audacity 
of these monsters every moment increased, and the 
forlorn wretches were one by one torn off, until, but 
two or three remaining, the raft at length, light- 
ened of its load, rose to the surface, and placed the 
survivors beyond the reach of their terrible assailants. 
The tide at length bore them to one of the islands, 
a melancholy remnant, to tell the sad fate of their 
companions. 

* American Missionary Herald. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 303 

With such simple vessels as were used by these 
people, it is surprising that such accidents did not 
more frequently occur. When we consider that^ 
before their intercourse with Europeans, they pos- 
sessed no metal tools, that their work was performed 
wholly by the eye, without line, rule, or square, 
and that the seams were closed merely by, as it 
were, tying the planks to each other with cinet, 
it does seem surprising that their canoes could even 
live in a sea. Yet they were strong and secure, 
and many of them remarkably dry and comfortable, 
leaking very little, for they were accustomed to 
insert between the seams the cocoa-nut husk, which 
always swells when wetted; and the expansion of 
this substance closed the crevices neatly. Their 
craft, though varying much in size and minor 
points, according to the purposes for which they 
were intended, were built nearly on the same model; 
the stem and stern generally being curved upwards, 
so as to project out of water. As they were much 
higher than wide, they needed some contrivance 
to obtain uprightness; and this they secured, either 
by lashing two together by cross-beams, making 
the double canoe just now alluded to, or by means 
of an outrigger^ which is a stout plank or spar, 
parallel to the side of the canoe, and fixed at some 
distance from the larboard side, by two horizontal 
poles, which connect it with the vessel. The out- 
rigger floats on the water, and while it remains fast, 
there is no possibility of capsizing. They were 
furnished with masts, sails made of the leaves of 
the pandanus^ woven into a sort of matting, and 



304 THE OCEAN. 

rigging made of cocoa-nut fibre, wMcli makes good 
rope. 
^ The mode in which these scattered isles were 
peopled is a subject of interesting discussion, a3 
the physical character of the inhabitants, their lan- 
guage, and many peculiarities in their customs, seem 
to indicate their Asiatic origin; while, on the other 
hand, it was deemed highly improbable that the 
progress should have been made in a direction op- 
posed to that of the trade-wind, and in such feeble 
craft as they possessed. But the trade- wind is occa- 
sionally exchanged for violent and continued gales 
in other directions; and instances have conae to 
our knowledge, in which voyages of several hun- 
dred miles have been performed by native canoes, 
directly to windward. Thus, Captain Beechy 
found at Byam Martin Island a native of Tahiti, 
named Tuwarri, who, with a few companions, had 
sailed from Chain Island on a voyage to Tahiti; 
but after being out some time, he was met . by a 
violent storm, which drove him far out of his course 
and knowledge. At length, after very severe pri- 
vations and sufferings, he arrived at Byam Martin, 
four hundred and twenty miles distant in a wind- 
ward direction from the point of embarkation.'^ 
Such involuntary emigrations as this, when we con- 
sider how intimately the various groups are con- 
nected with each other, and with the Indian Archi- 
pelago, seem sufficient to warrant the conclusion, 
that the tide of populatioQ has flowed in a direction 
from west to east. 

* Voyage to the Pacific, &q. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 305 

In the transparent waters of the lagoons and 
sheltered bays, fishes of great variety and beauty 
are seen; and as many of them are of large size, 
and of exquisite flavour, the obtaining of them 
forms no small part of the occupation of the Poly- 
nesians. Some of their modes of fishing are highly 
curious and ingenious. One, which is very suc- 
cessful, reminds us of a wire mouse-trap. A cir- 
cular space in the lagoon, of about three or four 
yards in diameter, is enclosed by building up a 
wall from the bottom to the surface, in a part where 
it is not very deep. In one part of the top an 
opening is left a foot or two wide, and five or six 
inches deep. From each side of this aperture an- 
other stone wall, likewise reaching to the surface, 
is built to the length of fifty or a hundred yards 
in a diverging direction, so as to include a large 
space of water, which is open at one end, but, be- 
coming narrower and narrower, leads into the cir- 
cular pen. Fishes are usually found in these traps 
every morning, which are either taken out with a 
hand -net, or allowed to remain till wanted, as in a 
preserve. 

Many fishes, which have the habit of springing 
out of water when alarmed^ are taken by means 
of rafts. These are from fifteen to twenty feet 
long, and six or eight feet wide, built of light wood, 
such as the native hibiscus. Along one side a fence 
or screen is raised to the height of four or five 
feet, by fixing a row of upright stakes in the raft, 
to which slender poles are attached horizontally, one 
above another. A large party of men proceed with 

20 2c2 



306 THE OCEAN. 

twenty or thirty of these rafts to a shallow part of 
the lagoon, and then arrange themselves in a large 
circle, enclosing a large space of water. They then 
gradually narrow the circle by approaching each 
other, keeping the fenced edge of the raft on the 
outside. At this juncture a few persons go into the 
circle with a canoe, and beat the surface of the water 
violently with long white sticks, making as much 
commotion as possible. The fish, alarmed, dart away 
towards the rafts, and leaping out of water, endea- 
vour to clear them; but, striking against the perpen- 
dicular fence, they fall on the raft, and are gathered 
into baskets, or into canoes prepared on the outside 
of the circle. 

From the seeds of some of the native plants, a 
liquor is prepared, which has the property of in- 
toxicating fishes, and rendering them insensible. 
The mixture is frequently poured into the water 
in narrow places near the shore, or upon the reef; 
soon after which the fish come out of their retreats, 
and float in considerable numbers on the surface 
as if dead, when they are caught without resist- 
ance. 

Sometimes the long leaves of the cocoa-nut are 
tied up in bunches, and affixed along a line, which 
being carried out and dropped into the water, the 
two ends are towed in two canoes towards the shore. 
This rude apology for a net, drives many fishes 
into the shallows, whence they are taken out with 
hand-nets, or speared. Kets, however, made on 
the same principle as our own, are manufactured 
by them, and are exceedingly well made. They 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 3OY 

are of various kinds: a casting-net is used with 
much dexterity, being thrown from the hand over a 
shoal of small fishes, as the fisherman walks along 
the shore. Salmon-nets are made forty fathoms long, 
and are very effective ; stones tied in bags of matting 
being used instead of leads, and floats of light wood 
for corks. 

Fishing with the barbed spear is a favourite amuse- 
ment in these islands. Before the introduction of 
iron, the implement was made of hard wood; ten or 
twelve pointed pieces being fastened to the end of a 
pole eight feet long; but now iron heads are usually 
employed, barbed on one side. With these spears 
the natives proceed to the reef, and wade into the 
sea as high as their waists, their feet being defended 
from the sharp points of the coral and the spines of 
the sea-urchins by sandals made of tough bark, 
twisted into cords. Stationing themselves near an 
opening in the rocks, they watch the motions of the 
fishes, as they shoot to and fro, and dart the spear, 
sometimes with one hand, but more commonly with 
both, frequently striking their prey with great dex- 
terity. 

The fishermen often pursue their avocation by 
night; sometimes in the dark, sometimes by moon- 
light, but more usually by torchlight. Their torches 
are either large bunches of dried reeds firmly tied 
together, or else are made of the candle-nut (Aleu- 
rites triloba), which the natives use to light their 
houses. These nuts are heart-shaped, about as 
large as a walnut, and enclosed in a very hard 
shell. After being slightly baked in an oven, the 



S08 THE OCEAN. 

Bhell is removed, a hole bored through the kernel, 
and a rush passed through the hole, when they are 
hung up in strings for use. Torches are made by 
enclosing four or five strings of the nuts in the leaves 
of the screw-pine {Pandanus\ which not only keep 
them together, but increase the brilliancy of the 
light. 

These nocturnal fishing expeditions are described 
as producing a most picturesque effect. Large par- 
ties of men proceed to the reef, when the sea is com- 
paratively smooth, and hunt the totara, or hedge-hog- 
fish, probably a species of Diodon: and it is a 
beautiful and interesting spectacle, to behold a long 
line of reef illuminated by the flaming torches, the 
light from which glares redly upon the foaming surf 
without, and the calm lagoon within. Each fisher- 
man holds his torch in his left hand high above his 
head, while he poises his spear in his right, and 
stands with statue-like stillness, watching the ap- 
proach of the fish. 

A similiar mode of fishing is practised in the rivers, 
and though the circumstances are different, the efiect 
is not inferior. "Few scenes," says Mr. Ellis, "pre- 
sent a more striking and singular effect, than a band 
of natives walking along the shallow parts of the 
rocky sides of a river, elevating a torch with one 
hand, and a spear. in the other; while the glare of 
their torches is thrown upon the overhanging boughs, 
and reflected from the agitated surface of the stream ; 
their own bronze- coloured and lightly -clothed forms, 
partially illuminated, standing like figures in relief; 
while the whole scene appears in bright contrast with 



THE PACIEIC OCEAN. 



309 



the dark and almost midniglit gloom tliat envelopes 
every other object."* 

Another mode of fishing by torchlight is described 
by the late Mr. Williams, who accompanied some 
natives of Atiu on an excursion. The object of the 
pursuit was the Flying-fish, which is only taken by 
night. Double canoes were used, which, having 
been dragged from the rocks, thirty feet above the 
level of the water, down a broad sloping ladder, were 
launched over the surf. A torch was lighted, and 
the principal fisherman took his station on the fore 




Fishing by Torchlight. 



part of the canoe, bearing a ring-net attached to a 
light pole twelve or fifteen feet long. The rowers 

* Poly. Res. i. 150. 



310 THE OCEAN. 

now commenced paddling witli all their might, while 
the headsman produced a great noise by stamping on 
the hollow box of the canoe. The Flying-fish, which 
were securely feeding at the outer edge of the reef, 
terrified by the noise and splashing of the oars, 
darted out to sea. The torch answered a double pur- 
pose ; enabling the headsman to discern his prey, and 
dazzle the eyes of the fishes ; and as they dashed past 
the canoe, on the surface of the water, he thrust 
forward his net, and turned it over upon them. 
Many of the natives have acquired great skill in 
this exercise, and the quickness of their sight, and 
the celerity of their movements are astonishing ; so 
that sometimes vast quantities of fish are taken in 
this manner.'^ 

A large number of fishes are taken with the hook, 
as by more cultivated nations ; and with all the 
superiority in art, and all the advantage of metals 
possessed by Europeans, the native-made hooks are 
preferred, as far more effective than ours. Many 
of them are really beautiful productions, and, when 
we consider their total want of metallic tools, ex- 
cite our astonishment at the skill and ingenuity of 
the manufacturers. Our hooks are all made on one 
pattern, however varying in size; but the forms 
of theirs are exceedingly various, and made of dif- 
ferent substances, viz., wood, shell, and bone. " The 
hooks made with wood are curious; some are ex- 
ceedingly small, not more than two or three inches 
in length, but remarkably strong ; others are large. 
The wooden hooks are never barbed, but simply 

* Missionary Enterprises, p. 270. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



311 



pointed, "asually curved inwards at the point, but 
sometimes standing out very wide, occasionally 
armed at the point with a piece of bone. The 
best are hooks ingeniously made with the . small 
roots of the aito-tree, or iron- wood (Casuanna). 
In selecting a root for this purpose, they choose 
one partially exposed, and growing by the side of 
a bank, preferring such as are free from knots and 
other excrescences. The root is twisted into the 
shape they wish the future hook to assume, and 




Polynesian Fishing-tackle. 



allowed to grow till it has reached a size large 
enough to allow of the outside or soft parts being 
removed, and a sufficiency remaining to form the 
hook. Some hooks thus prepared are not much 



312 THE OCEAN. 

thicker than a quill, and perhaps three or four 
inches in length. Those used in taking sharks are 
formidable-looking weapons; some are a foot or 
fifteen inches long, exclusive of the curvatures, and 
not less than an inch in diameter. They are such 
frightful things, that no fish, less voracious than a 
shark, would approach them. In some the marks 
of the sharks' teeth are numerous and deep, and 
indicate the effect with which they have been 
used."* 

The most curious, as well as most serviceable 
hooks, are made of the inner part of the shell of 
the pearl-oyster, or other large bivalves, the inte- 
rior of which is pearly, called mother-of-pearl. 
These have great care and pains bestowed upon 
them : the smaller ones are cut almost circular, and 
made to resemble a worm, thus answering the pur- 
pose of bait as well as hook. A much larger kind 
is that used for the capture of the albacore^ bonito, 
and coryphene. The shank is about six inches in 
length, and nearly an inch in width, cut out of 
pearl-shell, in the shape ^of a small fish, and finely 
polished. The barb is formed separately ; it is an 
inch and a half in length, and is firmly bound in 
its place by a bandage of fine flax. The line is 
fastened to this, and braided all along the curve of 
the hook, and again fastened at the head. Some- 
times a number of long bristles are attached to the 
shell to mimic the appearance of the Flying-fish. 

The line is affixed to the end of a long bamboo 
rod ; and the anglers, sitting in the stern of a light 

* Ellis. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



3ia 



single canoe; are rowed briskly over the waves. The 
rod is held so that the hook shall just skim the 
tops of the billows ; the albacore or bonito, deceived 
by the resemblance, leaps after the fancied Flying- 
fish, and finds itself a prey. Twenty or thirty large 
fishes are occasionally taken by two men in this 
manner, in the course of a morning. 

A still more ingenious mode of deception is prac- 
tised upon these large fishes, by employing a swift 
double canoe, from the bows of which projects into 
the air a long curved pole resembling a crane. At 
some distance from the end this divides into two 




Angling in a Double Canoe. 



branches, which diverge from each other. The foot 
is secured in a sort of socket between the two canoes, 
and is so managed that tlie ends of the pole are 



2 D 



314 THE OCEAN. 

capable of being lowered or elevated bj a rope whicli 
proceeds from the fork. A man sits in the high 
stern, holding this rope in his hand, and watching 
the capttire of the fishes. From the end of the pro- 
jecting arms depends the line, with the pearl-hook 
fashioned to resemble the Fljing-fish. To increase 
the deception, bunches of feathers are fastened to 
the tips of the arms, to represent those aquatic 
birds which habitually follow the Flying-fish in its 
course, to seize it in the air. The presence of 
these birds is so sure an indication of the position 
of the fish, that the fishermen hasten to the spot 
where they are seen hovering in the air. The canoe 
skims rapidly along, rising and falling on the waves, 
by which a similar motion is communicated to the 
hook, which skips along, sometimes out and some- 
times in the water, while the plumes of feathers 
flutter immediately above. The artifice rarely fails 
to succeed; if the bonito perceives the hook, he 
instantly engages in pursuit, and if he misses his 
grasp, perseveres until he has seized it. The mo- 
ment the man in the stern perceives the capture, 
he hoists the crane, and the fish is dragged in, 
and thrown into a sort of long basket, suspended 
between the two canoes. The crane is then lowered 
again, and all is ready for another candidate. 

Yet another mode of fishing, not wanting in in- 
genuity, is adopted by the inhabitants of the Samoa 
group. A number of hollow floats, about eight 
inches in height, and the same in diameter, are at- 
tached to a stout cord, a short distance apart. To 
each of them a line is attached, about a foot in 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 315 

length, to the end of which a piece of fish-bone 
is suspended by the middle. This bone is ground 
exceedingly sharp at each end, so that when it is 
seized by the fish, the points enter the mouth in 
contrary directions, and secure it. The floats an- 
swer other purposes besides the obvious one of. 
regulating the depth of the snare, attracting the 
fish by the whiteness of their surface, and showing 
by their motion when the prey was taken. 

Not only in the smooth waters of the lagoon 
channels is the hook and line used, but in the open 
Ocean; as, notwithstanding the frail character of 
their vessels, the barbarous natives of these oceanic 
isles are skilful and fearless in navigation. Even 
the terrific shark is attacked in his own element; 
sometimes involved in a net, when frequently he 
makes havoc among the fishermen before he can 
be transfixed by their spears ; and sometimes caught, 
as intimated above, with the insidious hook. The 
most daring young men, usually the chiefs, are the 
first to assault the monster ; while the elders watch 
the proceedings in their canoes from a distance, par- 
takers of the excitement, though no longer sharers 
of the heroism. The eagerness with which these 
expeditions are set on foot, and the ardour with 
which they are prosecuted, are only equalled by the 
excited feelings of those w^ho, in other countries, 
pursue the more noble objects of the chase. 

The fishes of these seas are, many of them, in- 
teresting ; some of them have been already named. 
The Albacore and the Bonito are common in the 
tropical parts of the Pacific, and are both members 



316 THE OCEAN. 

of the Mackerel family. They are of considerable 
size, but the Albacore {Scober Germo) is the larger, 
sometimes being found six feet in length. Like its 
relative, our own Mackerel, it is a fish of much 
elegance, and its colours are beautiful. The back 
is bright azure, with a golden tint; the belly and 
sides silvery, with rainbow reflections, like mother- 
of-pearl, and the same notched fins near the tail 
are bright yellow. In slight winds, when the mo- 
tion of a ship is slow, these fishes are usually to 
be seen around her; if she be becalmed, and con- 
sequently motionless, they remain at some little 
distance, when the most tempting bait is inefiec- 
tual; but if she be sailing rapidly before a brisk 
breeze, they pertinaciously keep her company, keep- 
ing close alongside, and seizing the hook with avi- 
dity. The Albacore, as already hinted, is one of 
the hunters of the little Flying-fish. It is said to 
be highly interesting to watch one of these fishes 
keenly engaged in pursuit of its volatile prey: to 
mark the precision with which it keeps exactly be- 
neath during the aerial leaps of the- victim, keeping 
it steadily in sight, prepared to snap it up, on the 
instant of its submersion. The Flying-fish, how- 
ever, by its exceeding agility, darting again into 
the air in a moment, sometimes contrives to escape 
the fearful jaws of its adversary. 

The Albacore, in its turn, has occasion to exer- 
cise cunning and contrivance, to evade the attacks 
of a still mightier foe. Mr. F. D. Bennett mentions 
that, on one occasion, "The Albacore around the 
ship afibrded us an extraordinary spectacle ; they 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. Sll 

were collected close to the keel of the vessel, in one 
dense mass, of extraordinary depth and breadth, 
and swam with an appearance of trepidation and 
watchfulness. The cause of this unusual commo- 
tion was visible in a Sword-fish lurking astern, 
awaiting a favourable opportunity to rush upon 
his prey when they should be unconscious of danger, 
or away from the protection of the ship. The 
assembled Albacore continued, in the mean time, to 
pass under the keel of the vessel, from one side to 
the other, often turning simultaneously on their side 
to look for the enemy : their abdomens glittering 
in the sun as a wide expanse of dazzling silver. It 
was evident that the Sword-fish desired but a clear 
field for his exertions; and in the course of the 
day we observed him make several dashes amongst 
the shoal, with a velocity which produced a loud 
rushing sound in the sea ; his body, which, when 
tranquil, was of a dull brown colour, assuming at 
these times an azure hue." * 

Mr. Bennett conjectures with much probability, 
that it is as a protection against the attacks of the 
Sword-fish, that Albacore and other fishes so often 
attach themselves to a ship, or the body of a whale; 
the vicinity of so large a body being sufficient to 
deter the former from making his impetuous thrusts 
among the shoal, lest his bony weapon being driven 
into the solid substance by the violence of his 
assault, he might not be able to retract it. Instances 
are not rare, however, in which the Sword-fish, 
perhaps forgetting his usual caution, (for he is re- 

* Whaling Voyage, vol. i. p. 270. 
2d2 



31 g THE OCEAN. 

puted a very cautious fish,) has left his sword in 
the hull of a ship. The Foxhound, a South Sea 
whaler, was cruising in the Pacific in 1817, when 
one day, when most of the crew were below at 
dinner, a loud splashing was suddenly heard in the 
sea by a New Zealander on deck, who, on looking 
over the side, saw a large dark body sinking, and 
immediately gave the alarm of a man overboard. 
The crew, however, were found to be complete, 
and the occurrence passed over. Soon after, one 
of the men observed a rugged object projecting 
from the vessel's side, which, on examination, proved 
to be the snout of a Sword-fish, with part of the 
head attached, broken off by the fracture of the 
skull. On the vessel's arriving at Sydney, the pro- 
jecting part was sawn off, after vain endeavours to 
extract the weapon; and at the conclusion of the 
voyage, the pierced wood was taken out and placed 
in the British Museum. 

It is worthy of observation that, with very few 
exceptions, the immense population of the Ocean 
is carnivorous. The principal circumstance that 
regulates the choice of diet among fishes seems to 
be the power of mastery. Of terrestrial creatures, 
a very large number are peaceful, never, under 
ordinary circumstances, willingly taking the life of 
even the most helpless around them ; but the sea 
is a vast slaughter-house, where nearly every inha- 
bitant dies a violent death, and finds a grave in the 
maw of his fellow. We have just seen the Sword- 
fish preying upon the Albacore, and the Albacore 
upon the Flying-fish; while the Flying-fish itself, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 319 

though so general a favourite, is the greedy devourer 
of other fishes smaller than itself. Yet let us not 
arraign the providence of God, as if it were cruel 
and unkind : a sudden termination of existence is 
the most merciful mode, as far as we can conceive, 
by which the overflow of animal life could be 
checked. 

*' Harsh seems the ordinance, that life by life 
Should be sustain'd ; and yet when all must die. 
And be like water spilt upon the ground, 
Which none can gather up, — the speediest fate. 
Though violent and terrible, is best. 
0, with what horrors would creation groan, 
What agonies would ever be before us, — 
Famine and pestilence, disease, despair. 
Anguish and pain in every hideous shape, 
Had all to wait the slow decay of Nature ! 
Life were a martyrdom of sympathy ; 
Death, lingering, raging, writhing, shrieking torture; 
The grave would be abolished ; this gay world 
A valley of dry bones, a Golgotha, 
In which the living stumbled o'er the dead. 
Till they could fall no more, and blind perdition 
Swept frail mortality away forever. 
'Twas wisdom, mercy, goodness that ordain'd 
Life in such infinite profusion, — Death 
So sure, so prompt, so multiform to those 
That never sinn'd, that know not guilt, that fear 
No wrath to come, and have no heaven to lose."* 

Before we leave these charming regions, we will 
for a moment notice a few other of the various 
tribes of living beings that make the sea their home. 
A curious example of instinctive stratagem occurs 

in a little crab (Hyas f) which is common upon 

the shore-reefs. It is about six inches in circum- 

* Pelican Island. 



320 THE OCEAN. 

ference, of a dull brown hue, the body and legs 
entirely covered with stiff, curved bristles. It covers 
itself with decaying vegetable rubbish, mud, sand, 
&c., and thus lies in ambush for its passing prey. 
Thus masked, it maintains its assumed character 
by the most sluggish movements, as if the little 
heap were slightly moved by the tide; but, when 
taken into the hand, or otherwise alarmed, it can 
be sufficiently active. The spines upon its body 
to retain the rubbish, the short but strong claws 
easily concealed, the eyes placed at the end of long 
footstalks, curving upwards and thus raised above 
the mass, show beautiful adaptations of its structure 
to its economy. 

Another crab of the reef {Calappa tuberculata), 
makes use of another artifice for concealment. It 
is heart-shaped, with the margin of its shell pro- 
jecting broadly. When alarmed, it draws its feet 
under the margin, and folds them close to its side, 
claps its broad flat claws upon its head, and lies 
motionless, in which state it may be handled with- 
out manifesting any sign of life. A sailor seeing 
one of these little crabs on the shore, picked it up, 
and after admiring it awhile, put it into his pocket 
as a "curious stone;" he was presently astonished by 
the efforts of his prize to escape from durance vile. 

On the barrier reefs are found elegant animal- 
flowers {Diazona\ expanding their numerous tenta- 
cles of pink and white, which form a wide circular 
disk, at the summit of a round fleshy stem. If 
touched, or otherwise alarmed, they rapidly fold in- 
wards their beautiful tentacles, and sink to the rock, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 321 

contracting to a very diminutive size, so as easily 
to elude observation. The same reefs are enlivened 
also by numbers of another species of Sea-anemone 
{Zoanthus\ which cover large surfaces of the rock, 
like beautiful carpets or mats of wide expanse. 
When opened beneath the water, under the beams 
of the sun, they display a series of squares with 
elevated margins, the interior being of a bright 
green, the exterior of a fawn colour. These, also, 
contract instantly on the slightest touch; and thus 
entire fields of them, being connected together by 
a common fleshy disk upon the rock, are changed 
in a moment, as if by magic, from brilliant green to 
dull brown, which again, as they recover from their 
alarm, is soon replaced by the verdant hue. 

Numerous species of Squid and Cuttle are ob- 
served in the Pacific, several of which have the 
power of making long leaps out of the water, even 
to the same height and distance as the Flying- fish, 
whence these kinds are denominated by seamen, 
Flying Squid. One of these, which appears to have 
been an Onyclioteuthis^ is described by Mr. F. D. Ben- 
nett, as having fallen, in one of its leaps, upon the 
deck of the ship in which he was sailing. The 
whole class to which these animals belong is re- 
markable for the powerful apparatus with which the 
animals are endowed for seizing prey, in the nume- 
rous long and flexible arms, furnished with cup- 
like suckers, which forcibly adhere to any object 
at the will of the creature. But the genus just 
mentioned is favoured above its fellows ; for, in ad- 
dition to the usual structure, there is placed in each 

21 



THE OCEAN. 

sucker-cup of the long feet, a sharp projecting 
hook. On the smooth and glossy scales of fishes, 
lubricated with slime, it might not be always easy 
at once to create a vacuum; but these hooks are 
plunged by the action of the sucker into the flesh 
of the struggling victim, whereby a firm hold is 
obtained, and the prey is dragged to the powerful 
beak. 

Some of these animals frequent the crevices and 
holes of the rocks, whence they protrude their long 
arms for the capture of prey. They form an ac- 
ceptable article of food to the South-Sea islanders, 
who have exercised their ingenuity in devising a 
mode of entrapping them. The instrument employ- 
ed for this purpose is described as a straight piece 
of hard wood, a foot long, round, and polished, and 
not half an inch in diameter. Near one end of 
this, a number of the most beautiful pieces of the 
cowry, or tiger-shell, are fastened one over another, 
like the scales of a fish or the plates of a piece of 
armour, until it is about the size of a turkey's eggj 
and resembles the cowry. It is suspended in a 
horizontal position, by a strong line, and lowered 
by the fisherman from a small canoe, until, it nearly 
reaches the bottom. The fisherman then gently 
jerks the line, causing the shell to move as if inhabit- 
ed by an animal. The Cuttle, deceived by the ap- 
pearance of the supposed cowry (for no bait is used), 
darts out one of its arms, which it winds around 
the shell, adhering fast by its suckers. The fish- 
erman continues jerking the line, and the Cuttle 
strengthens its hold by afiixing more of its arms, 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 323 

until its adhesion is very strong, when, rather than 
quit its prey, it permits itself to be dragged from 
its retreat to the surface of the water, and cap- 
tured* 

There are certain species of oceanic birds which 
it is difficult to identify with any particular region, 
as they are true cosmopolites. The Tropic-birds, 
Albatrosses, Terns, Petrels, and Boobies, are of this 
extended character, following and attending the 
voyager for many thousands of miles, and even from 
one ocean into another. Yet there are certain, 
though somewhat indefinite, limits to their range; 
limits governed, however, by climate, rather than by 
physical boundaries. Thus the Dusky Albatross 
{Diomedea fuliginosd) was observed by Captain 
Beechy to be numerous in the Atlantic from the 
Eio de la Plata to the latitude of 51° south; when 
it suddenly disappeared; but after rounding Cape 
Horn, the species again occurred at the very same 
latitude of 51°, and continued numerous all up the 
coast of Chili. 

The Tropic-birds {Phaeton} in like manner, as 
their name imports, chiefly frequent the Ocean 
within the tropics ; and according to the statements of 
all voyagers, are very rarely seen beyond the parallel 
of 35°. In a voyage to Newfoundland, however, in 
1827, I frequently saw the Tropic-bird, though our 
latitude during the whole voyage was not so low 
as 40°. Elevated in the air, far above the mast- 
head, the long projecting tail-feathers, looking like 
a single slender shaft, while it turns its head to 

* Ellis. 



324 THE OCEAN. 

and fro, as on suspended wing it examines the ves- 
sel below, it is not liable to be confounded with 
any other ocean-bird. The seamen have given it 
the name of "boatswain;" perhaps on account of its 
shrill whistling note, like the official call of that 
authoritative personage; or, as I was told, because 
it carries a marline- spike. This was, doubtless, P. 
jEtherius ; which has the feathers of the tail white, 
but the Pacific species (P. Phoenicurus) is much 
more handsome, the tail being scarlet. They are 
thoroughly ocean-birds, rarely approaching the land 
except to lay and hatch their eggs. The Eed-tailed 
Phaeton excavates a hollow in the sand for this 
purpose, beneath the shade of bushes, where she 
lays one Qgg: the islanders frequently take the old 
birds from the nest, for the tail-feathers, which are 
highly esteemed. 

The Albatrosses are large birds, being but little 
inferior to a swan in size. The floating carcass of a 
whale affords a rich feast to many sea-birds, among 
which these are pre-eminent, now swooping in the 
air, now alighting on the body, now swimming and 
feeding on the fragments of oily fat that escape; 
now screaming harshly as they quarrel for the offal. 
They are powerfully endued for flight, and make 
vast excursions from land, ranging through the whole 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

I have already alluded to the singular manner in 
which the body of a sea-bird is penetrated by air. 
Mr. Bennett records a very curious circumstance 
resulting from this structure, in the case of a bird 
allied to the Albatross, taken in the Pacific Ocean. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAK 325 

It "was shot in the wing, and brought on board 
alive, fighting savagely with its beak and feet. 
"With a view to preserving its plumage uninjured, I 
endeavoured to destroy the bird by compressing its 
windpipe ; but found that as the breathing became 
laborious, a loud whistling sound was emitted from 
some part of the body ; and upon close investigation 
traced it to the bone of the wing, which was frac- 
tured across, and projected through the skin, and 
admitted within its tube a forcible current of air, 
whenever the lungs made an effort at respiration : 
the bird was, in fact, breathing through its broken 
wing; and so sufficient was the supply of air the 
lungs received through this novel channel, that I 
was wearied by my attempts to suffocate my prize, 
and was compelled to destroy it in another man- 
ner."^ 

Every one who has read the romantic narratives 
of the old voyagers, is familiar with the name of 
the Booby {Sula fusca), so named by seamen from 
its apparent stupidity and familiarity, suffering itself 
to be knocked down with a stick or taken with 
the hand, when it alights, as it often does, on the 
spars or shrouds of a vessel. This habit seems quite 
unaccountable; many other birds have manifested 
a similar fearlessness of man when first discovered, 
but have soon learned the necessity of precaution : 
but the Booby will manifest the sam« unnatural 
tameness after being long accustomed to the cruelty 
of man. It does not arise from helplessness, as it 
is a bird of powerful wing, like its relative, the com- 

* Whaling Voyage, i. 260. 
2E 



326 THE OCEAN. 

mon Gannet; neither is it a sufficient explanation 
to affirm, as is sometimes done, that it arises from 
a peculiar difficulty in rising to flight after alight- 
ing, because it is not un frequently caught in the air 
by the hand; so incautiously does it approach man. 
Notwithstanding this apparent stupidity, the Booby 
is a dexterous fisher: hovering over a shoal of fishes, 
he eagerly watches their motions, turning his head 
from side to side in a very ludicrous manner; he 
presently sees one of the unwary group approach 
the surface ; down he pounces like a stone, plunging 
into the wave, which boils into foam w^ith the shock. 
Nor fails he to seize the scaly victim, with which 
he emerges into the air, and soon it is lodged 
whole in his capacious stomach. But the Frigate- 
bird {Tachypetes aquilus) has watched the proceeding, 
and instantly betakes himself to the pursuit ; flight 
is vain from the swiftest ranger of the Ocean, whose 
extended wings measure a width of seven feet. The 
Frigate-bird swooping down upon the unfortunate 
Booby, compels him to disgorge the fish which he 
has just swallowed, and which, long ere it can reach 
the water, is seized, and again devoured by the op- 
pressor. 

The Frigate-bird neither swims nor dives; the 
seamen fully believe that it even sleeps upon the 
wing; whether this be so or not, there is good 
evidence ths,t the same individuals will remain in 
the air for several successive days : they are never 
known to alight on a vessel. Though the chase of 
the Booby is so usual as to be considered one of 
its constant means of dependence, yet it also fishes 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 32t 

for itself; precluded, however, from plunging into 
the sea; it can take only such as, like the Flying- 
fish, leap into another element. With such suc- 
cess, however, does it attack these, that it has been 
seen to snap up three in succession in the course 
of a few minutes. If, after having captured a fish, 
it is awkwardly placed in the beak, it hesitates 
not to drop it, secure of seizing it again in the 
descent. 

To the immense congregations of aquatic birds, 
for the purpose of hatching and rearing their young 
in places congenial to their habits, allusion has 
already been made; and the following picture, vividly 
drawn by the pen of an accomplished naturalist, is 
probably not overcharged. 

Le Yaillant, on visiting the tomb of a Danish 
captain at Saldanha Bay, near the Cape of Good 
Hope, beheld, after wading through the surf, and 
clambering up the rocks, such a spectacle as he 
supposed had never appeared to the eye of mortal. 
"All of a sudden, there arose from the whole sur- 
face of the island an impenetrable cloud, which 
formed, at the distance of forty feet above our heads, 
an immense canopy, or rather a sky, composed of 
birds of every species, and of all colours; — cormo- 
rants, sea-gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, and, I believe, 
the whole winged tribe of that part of Africa, 
was here assembled. All their voices mingled to- 
gether, and, modified according to their difierent 
kinds, formed such a horrid music, that I was every 
moment obliged to cover my head to give a little 
relief to my ears. The alarm wliich we spread was 



328 THE OCEAN. 

SO much the more general among these innumerable 
regions of birds, as we principally disturbed the 
females which were then sitting. They had nests, 
eggs, and young to defend.* They were like furious 
harpies let loose against us, and their cries ren- 
dered us almost deaf. They often flew so near us, 
that they flapped their wings in our faces, and 
though we fired our pieces repeatedly, we were not 
able to frighten them: it seemed almost impossible 
to disperse this cloud." 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



The remaining great division of the waters of our 
globe is considerably less extensive than either of 
the others, but is scarcely less important, inasmuch 
as it is the pathway of the richest commerce of the 
world, the high road on which are borne the gems, 
and gold, and spices of the gorgeous East. .It is 
separated from the Pacific by that grand assemblage 
of islands known as the Oriental Archipelago, which, 
for their immense size, the teeming luxuriance of 
their vegetation, and the valuable character of many 
of their productions, have no rivals. The isles of 
New Guinea, Borneo, and Sumatra are the largest 
in the world: their soil possesses a fertility that 
seems inexhaustible; their produce consists of the 
nutmeg, the clove, and other costly spices; frankin- 
cense, camphor, and other odoriferous gums; dia- 
monds, rubies, and other precious stones; gold, 
silver, silks, tortoise-shell, pearls, sandal- wood, and 
drugs, the most valued of earthly things. 

It is a singular fact, that at the very same point 
of time when the genius and daring of Columbus 
were leading Spain into the possession of a new 
world in the west, Portuguese enterprise was laying 
open the still more splendid and gorgeous regions 
of Asia in the east. It was in 1497 that Yasco de 

2 E 2 (329) 



330 THE OCEAN. 

Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and pene- 
trated to climes which had hitherto been invested 
with all the romance of mystery and fable; then 
commencing a commerce which has poured incalcu- 
lable wealth into the lap of Europe. 

This immense archipelago, which occupies a tract 
of the Ocean four thousand miles in length, and 
fourteen hundred in breadth, is an assemblage of 
islands perfectly unique. The multitudinous islets 
of the Pacific, if all united, would not together form 
a third-rate island of this group. The land, though 
broken with countless thousands of isles, so equally 
divides the space with the sea, that one is at a loss 
to say which predominates. A large majority of 
the smaller isles and reefs are of the same struc- 
ture as the coral atolls of Polynesia, and present 
a similar character in their zoology and botany ; but 
the larger tracts of land, almost a continent in their 
dimensions, are of the old formations. The widely - 
scattered groups of small islands on the northern 
boundary, indeed, — the Ladrones, the Carolines, the 
Pelews, &c., we are at a loss to distinguish: they 
are usually arranged in the Indian Archipelago, 
while they are decidedly Polynesian in their cha- 
racters. 

The boats which are used by the natives of these 
islands, from their very peculiar construction, as 
well as from their unrivalled power^ of sailing, 
demand a moment's notice. Lord Anson, who first 
met with them at the Ladrone Islands, and who calls 
them flying .proas, considers them " so singular and 
extraordinary an invention, that it would do honour 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 331 

to any nation, however dexterous and acute. Since, 
if we consider the aptitude of this proa to the 
navigation of these islands, which, lying all of them 
nearly under the same meridian, and within the 
limits of the trade-wind, requires the vessels made 
use of in passing from one to the other to be 
peculiarly fitted for sailing with the wind upon the 
beam ; or, if we examine the uncommon simplicity 
and ingenuity of its fabric and contrivance, or the 
extraordinary velocity with which it moves, we shall 
in each of these particulars find it worthy of our 
admiration, and deserving a place amongst the 
mechanical productions of the most civilized na- 
tions, where arts and sciences have most eminently 
flourished."* 

In direct contradiction to the practice of civilized 
nations, the proa is built with the two ends alike, 
but the two sides different. It is intended never 
to turn, but always to present the same side to the 
wind,; the bow becoming the stern, and the stern 
the bow, at pleasure. The ends of the boat are 
high and project much above the water ; the wind- 
ward side is rounded, as in other vessels ; but the 
lee side is flat, and almost perpendicular. As the 
depth greatly exceeds the breadth, it would, of 
course, instantly fall over on the leeward side, but 
for an ingenious contrivance already alluded to as 
used in the Polynesian islands. A light but strong 
frame is run out horizontally to windward, to the 
end of which is fastened a hollow log, fashioned into 
the shape of a small boat, which floats upon the 

* Anson's Voyage, p. 339. 



332 



THE OCEAN. 



water, preventing the capsizing of tlie proa in tliat 
direction ; while the weight of the apparatus, called 
an outrigger, prevents the same accident on the 
other. A mast rises perpendicularly from the wind- 
ward edge of the proa, fastened to the heel of the 
outrigger; a bamboo yard is slung near the mast- 




Proas of the Ladrones. 



head, so that its foot shall come into the boat in 
a diagonal direction near the head, there being a 
socket at each end to receive the foot of the yard, 
according as the proa is on either tack. The sail 
attached is made of matting, and is triangular, the 
lower side being fastened to a boom running hori- 
zontally from the foot of the yard over the stern. 
When it is intended to alter the course by going 
upon another tack, the foot of the yard is lifted 
from the one socket, carried round to leeward, and 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 333 

placed in the other, while the fast sheet being let 
fly, and the loose sheet hauled in, the boat is 
immediately trimmed again, without loss by lee- way. 
From their extraordinary power of lying near the 
wind, that is, of sailing nearly towards the point 
from which the wind is blowing, as well as from 
their extreme narrowness cutting the water with 
little resistance, these boats are the fleetest vessels 
known. Anson affirms that they will run nearly 
twenty miles an hour, which, though greatly short 
of what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a pro- 
digious degree of swiftness. In more modern voy- 
ages, we find the native boats called by the names 
of prows and prahus; as they seem, however, to 
refer to vessels of the same construction as those 
described by Anson, they are probably to be con- 
sidered as somewhat closer approximations to the 
true pronunciation of the native name. 

The navigation of these seas is rendered pecu- 
liarly unsafe by the swarms of Malay pirates by 
which they are infested. Voyagers continually allude 
to the alarm which every collection of native boats 
inspires, as being so exceedingly swift, and the 
men merciless and daring. Whole colonies of these 
desperate adventurers proceed from Magindanao to 
the coast of Borneo, where they seek some con- 
venient, but retired, harbour, in which they make 
their home; not living, however, upon the land, 
but on board their prahus (or proas), which are fre- 
quently of sixty tons' burthen. During the south- 
east monsoon they cruise about near the entrance 
of the Straits of Malacca, ready to pounce upon 



334 THE OCEAN. 

the native traders resorting to Singapore; when 
about to return home, they surprise some defence- 
less native village, and carry off the whole of the 
■inhabitants to be sold into slavery. During the 
absence of the pirates, their wives and children 
remain in the harbour, to take charge of the booty 
that may be brought in ; and as these are scarcely 
less warlike than the men, no other guard is neces- 
sary against the inoffensive natives of Borneo. When 
the band has acquired a considerable amount of 
plunder, they return to their own island, and others 
supply their place. Even in the neighbourhood of 
Singapore, although a British dependency, the Ma- 
lay pirates absolutely swarm. The numberless little 
islands in the Straits, divided by channels known 
only to themselves, are like so many impregnable 
fastnesses, into which they drag their unfortunate 
victims, and plunder them at their leisure, defying 
pursuit. The occupation has acquired all the form 
and regularity of a system. A chief of some petty 
Malay state, whose fortunes have been rendered 
desperate by gambling, collects around him a few 
adventurous and restless spirits, and sails to some 
retired island. A village is formed, as a depot for 
the booty, and the armed prahus lie in wait or prowl 
about. If the adventure prove successful, the chief 
soon gains accessions ; the village grows into a town ; 
and the fleet separates into squadrons, which scour 
the seas of different localities. They usually sail 
in company, the fleets consisting of three to twenty 
prahus, each of which carries large and small guns, 
and from fifteen to forty men. The captured vessels 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 335 

are burnt at the depot, and the goods put on 
board prahus disguised like traders, and sold at 
Singapore. The captives are sold into slavery at 
Sumatra, to work on the pepper plantations of the 
Malays. 

Though their assaults are generally upon the 
native trading-boats, yet occasionally they venture to 
attack square-rigged craft. 

"An English merchant, who had resided several 
years in Java, embarked at Batavia on board one 
of his own vessels, a large brig, taking with him 
a considerable sum of money for the purchase of 
the produce of the eastern districts. These facts 
having reached the ears of a famous piratical chief, 
he determined to waylay the vessel, and accordingly 
mustering a sufficient number of prahus, cruised 
about, and meeting with the brig as he had expect- 
ed, commenced an attack upon her. The crew of 
the latter vessel consisted of two Englishmen, the 
captain and the chief officer, and about thirty Java- 
nese seamen, who, together with the owner, defended 
the vessel for some time. Towards the evening, 
however, the unfortunate merchant was killed by a 
spear fired from a musket, and the pirates taking 
advantage of the confusion produced by this event, 
immediately boarded. The two remaining English- 
men, being well aware that certain death awaited 
them should they remain, threw themselves into the 
sea, and succeeded in reaching a bamboo fishing- 
buoy. The pirates, too busily employed in plunder- 
ing their prize to think of any thing else, did not 
perceive their place of refuge, and the vessels soon 



336 THE OCEAN. 

drifted away out of sight. The condition of the 
persons who had thus escaped had altered very little 
for the better; they were immersed to the neck in 
water, dreading every moment the attack of sharks : 
nor had either, during the whole of the night, the 
comfort of knowing that his companion was still in 
existence. Soon after daylight some fishermen ap- 
peared, by whom they were perceived ; but instead 
of rescuing them immediately from their perilous 
situation, the Javanese consulted together for a few 
minutes, and then approached the sufferers, and 
demanded who they were. On being told they were 
Englishmen, whose vessel had been attacked and 
captured by pirates, they were taken on board, 
treated kindly, and conveyed to the Dutch Settlement 
at Indramayo. Had they belonged to one of the 
Dutch cruisers, their fate would probably have been 
different ; for the fishermen are on bad terms with 
the officers of the government prahus, whom they 
accuse of robbing them of their fish."* 

The pirates who thus infest the Indian Archipe- 
lago are invariably Mahometans ; none of the Pagan 
natives ever being known to engage in these mur- 
derous expeditions. They show no mercy: the 
Europeans that fall into their hands are murdered, 
and the native seamen sold 'into slavery. 

The larger islands of the archipelago do not pre- 
sent a very interesting appearance from the sea. 
Though clothed from the tops of the mountains 
down to the very water's edge with the most lux- 
uriant vegetation, it is too uniform to be agreeable. 

Earl's " Eastern Seas," p. 38. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 337 

The eye seeks in vain for some variaftion, some break 
in the vast forest ; all is rich massy foliage, like 
enormous heaps of green velvet. The solemn silence 
that prevails, joined with this gorgeous uniformity, 
creates an oppressive feeling of awe and loneliness. 
And when the dews of evening descend, and the 
gentle breeze blows off the land, it comes loaded 
with what have been described as spicy odours, but 
which are, in sober reality, but the sickly sweats 
produced by immense masses of vegetation in decom- 
position. They bear, in fact, the pestilence upon 
their wings. 

But while this is the general character of the 
great islands, there are exceptions.' Java, settled by 
the Dutch, contrasts with Sumatra and Borneo ; the 
gloom of the forest is enlivened here and there by 
verdant fields and lawns, while the white villas of 
the Europeans chequer the hills, and give a peace- 
ful and inviting air to the landscape. The smaller 
isles are said to be exquisitely lovely. 

" The sea near Batavia is covered with innumer- 
able little islets, all of which are clothed with lux- 
uriant vegetation. Native prahus, with their yellow 
mat-sails, are occasionally seen to shoot from behind 
one of them, to be shielded from view immediately 
afterwards by the green foliage of another; and 
over the tops of the trees may often be descried 
the white sails of some stately ship, threading the 
mazes of this little archipelago. One group, appro- 
priately named the Thousand Isles, has never yet 
been explored, and its intricacies afford concealment 
to petty pirates who prey upon the small prahus and 

22 2F 



338 THE OCEAN. 

fishing-boats. -^^ ^- * A number of lame fisbino-. 
boats were coming in from sea, and standing with 
ITS into the roads; and although we were running 
at the rate of seven knots an hour, thej passed us 
with great rapidity. Thej had a most graceful 
appearance ; many of them were fourteen or fifteen 
tons' burthen, and each boat carried one immense 
square-sail. As the breeze' was strong, a thick 
plank was thrust out to windward for an outrigger, 
on which several of the numerous crew sat, or stood^ 
to prevent the press of sail they were carrying from 
capsizing the boat. They were occasionally hidden 
from our view by their passing behind some of the 
small islets; bat in a few seconds they would appear 
on the other side, having shot past so rapidly, that 
we could scarcely fancy we had lost sight of them at 
all."* 

In sailing amongst the numberless islands of the 
Indian Archipelago, the voyager is struck with the 
frequent appearance of towns or villages built 
actually over the sea. The houses are constructed on 
stout piles, which are firmly driven into the ground. 
A flat place is selected, where the tide ebbs and 
flows, that all dirt and filth from their habitations 
may be regularly carried away without trouble, and 
that they may be free from the presence of unplea- 
sant and venomous reptiles. The houses are chiefly 
of split bamboo, thatched with leaves: the windows 
are made of the transparent inner shell of the pearl- 
oyster: they are arranged in rows or streets, with 
walks three or four feet wide reaching to the land, 

* Earl's "Eastern Seas," p. 11. 



Q I 




THE INDIAN OCEAN. 341 

but all heavy goods are transported by canoes, wbicli 
pass under the houses. The mode of driving the 
piles, which are inserted into the bottom to the 
depth of six feet, is curious and ingenious. A canoe 
loaded with stones to the weight of two or three 
tons is lashed on each side of a pile at high water, 
which, as the tide falls, are suspended from it; a 
heavy piece of timber is then made successively 
to fall upon the head, which, conjointly with the 
great weight of the canoes, sinks it into the bottom 
rapidly. Towns covering a square mile may be 
seen formed in this manner. 

The harbours and straits are crowded during the 
season with Chinese junks ; which fail not to strike 
an eye accustomed to the elegant proportions and 
graceful tracery of an European ship, as ludicrously 
monstrous. Mr. Crawfurd says, " The appearance 
of a Chinese junk is remarkably grotesque and sin- 
gular. The deck presents the figure of a crescent. 
The extremities of the vessel are disproportionately 
high and unwieldy, conveying an idea that any 
sudden gust of wind would not fail to upset her. At 
each side of the bow there is a large white spot o^* 
circle to imitate eyes. These vessels, except before' 
the wind, are bad sailers, and very unmanageable. 
They require a numerous crew to navigate them: 
of one of the largest size, it often takes fifty men 
to manage the helm alone." The high stern and 
bow are alike flat, the latter having nothing answer- 
ing to a cut-water. There are from two to four 
masts, the main-mast being disproportionately larger 
than the others ; each of which carries a single huge 

2f2 



342 THE OCEAN. 

square-sail made of mats of split bamboo, extended 
by horizontal rods of bamboo, on which the sail 
is rolled up when reefing is necessary. The largest, 
though sometimes of twelve hundred tons, have but 
one deck, but the immense hold is divided into com- 
partments, allotted to the several adventurers and 
their goods. Mr. Earl describes one which he met 
with in Banca Straits, in somewhat unfavourable 
style. " While wind-bound," he observes, " a Chinese 
junk passed close by us. A considerable number 
of the crew were standing on the high, thatched 
habitation erected on their quarter-deck, and per- 
ceiving a Chinese passenger whom we had on board, 
they all hailed together to demand the state of the 
markets ; but they asked so many questions at once, 
that our friend became quite bewildered, and the 
junk passed astern before he could decide to which 
he should first reply. Even if he had spoken, the 
junk-people could not have profited by his efforts, 
for they continued bawling until quite out of hear- 
ing. This junk, which was about two hundred tons^ 
burthen, carried two immense mat-sails, with a num- 
ber of small yards extending along them, giving 
them the appearance of bats' wings. She passed us 
quickly, on account of the current being in her 
favour ; but, although the breeze was strong, siie 
went slowly through the water, and might be deemed 
little better than an unwieldy hulk."^ — The inflated 
ideas which the Chinese maintain of their own per- 
fection are adverse to any improvement in these 
singular structures; indeed, an attempt at innova- 

* Eastern Seas, p. 129. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



343 



tion, some years ago, in their form, bringing tliem 
nearer to the model of an European ship, was so 
severely reprehended in high quarters, that it was 
found prudent to desist from the indiscreet improve- 
ment. At the same time, it must be confessed, 
that compared with the vessels of their immediate 
neighbours, the junk, as a commercial vessel, has a 
vast superiority; and in the seas which they navi- 
gate, so regular are the monsoons, that they get on 
tolerably well. 

Occasionally, however, they must encounter those 
terrific tempests called typhoons, which are peculiar 
to these seas, and which, with the hurricanes of the 
opposite hemisphere, are the most furious storms 




Ship under bare Poles. 



that blow. They rise with fearful rapidity, often 
coming on suddenly from a calm ; and before the 



3^4 THE OCEAN. 

canvas can be secured, the gale is howling shrilly 
through the spars and rigging, and the crests of 
the waves are torn off, and driven in sheets of spray 
across the decks. The lightning is terrible : at very 
short intervals the whole space between heaven and 
earth is filled with vivid flame, showing every rope 
and spar in the darkest night as distinctly as in the 
broadest sunshine, and then leaving the sight ob- 
scured in pitchy darkness for several seconds after 
each flash ; darkness the most intense and absolute ; 
not that of the night, but the eflect of the blinding 
glare upon the eye. The thunder, too, peals now 
in loud, sharp, startling explosions, now in long mut- 
tered growls all around the horizon. In the height 
of the gale, curious electrical lights, called St. Ulmo's 
fires, are seen on the projecting points of the masts 
and upper spars, appearing from the deck like dim 
stars. Soon after their appearance the gale abates, 
and presently clears away with a rapidity equal to 
that which marked its approach. 

The storms are found, by carefully comparing 
the directions of the wind at the same time in dif- 
ferent places, or successively at the same place, to 
blow in a vast circle around a centre : a fact of the 
utmost importance, as an acquaintance with this 
law will frequently enable the mariner so to deter- 
mine the course of his ship, as to steer out of the 
circle, and consequently out of the danger; when, 
in ignorance, he might have sustained the whole 
fury of the tempest. The course of the circle is the 
opposite of that taken by the hands of a watch, and 
is the same with that of the still more striking phe- 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



345 



nomena, waterspouts. These are, perhaps, the most 
majestic of all those "works of the Lord, and his 
wonders in the deep," which they behold who " go 
down to the sea in ships." They frequently appear 
as perpendicular columns, apparently of many hun- 
dred feet in height, and three feet or more in dia- 
meter, reaching from the surface of the sea to the 
clouds. The edge of the pillar is perfectly clean 
and well-defined, and the effect has been compared 
to a column of frosted glass. A series of spiral 




Waterspouts. 



lines run around it, and the whole has a rapid spiral 
motion, which is very apparent, though it is not 
always easy to determine whether it is an ascending 
or descending line. Generally, the body of clouds 



346 THE OCEAN. 

above descend below the common level, joining tbe 
pillar in the form of a funnel, but sometimes the 
summit is invisible, from its becoming gradually 
more rare. Much more constant is the presence of 
a visible foot ; the sea being raised in a great heap, 
with a whirling and bubbling motion, the upper 
part of which is lost in the mass of spray and foam 
which is driven rapidly round. The column, or 
columns, for there are frequently more than one, 
move slowly forward with a stately and majestic 
step, sometimes inclining from the perpendicular, 
now becoming curved, and now taking a twisted 
form. Sometimes the mass becomes more and more 
transparent, and gradually vanishes; at others, it 
separates, the base subsiding, and the upper por- 
tion shortening with a whirling motion, till lost in 
the clouds. The pillar is not always cylindrical : a 
very frequent form is that of a slender funnel de- 
pending from the sky, which sometimes retains that 
appearance without alteration, or, at others, lengthens 
its tube towards the sea, which at the same time 
begins to boil and rise in a hill to meet it, and soon 
the two unite and form a slender column, as first 
described. 

When these sublime appearances are viewed from 
a short distance, they are attended with a rushing 
noise, somewhat like the roar of a cataract. The 
phenomenon is doubtless the effect of a whirlwind, 
or current of air revolving with great rapidity and 
violence ; and the lines which are seen, are probably 
drops of water ascending in the cloudy columrt. 
They are esteemed highly dangerous : instances have 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 347 

been known, in whicli vessels that have been crossed 
by them have been instantly dismasted, and left a 
total wreck. It is supposed that any sudden shock 
will cause a rupture in the mass, and destroy it ; and 
hence it is customary for ships to fire a cannon at 
such as, from their proximity of course, there is any 
reason to dread. They are seen in all parts of the 
world, but are most frequent in the Pacific and 
Indian Oceans. 

That a Chinese junk, so clumsily rigged and so 
unwieldy, must be ill adapted to sustain the fury 
of a typhoon, or to evade the rush of a waterspout, 
we may well imagine, and doubtless many are 
wrecked from these causes. The following affect- 
ing narrative of a crew' under such painful circum- 
stances will be read with interest : — 

" The dark sullen waters of the China Sea never 
looked less friendly nor more portentous than on 
the morning of the 12th of January, 1837 ; tempes- 
tuous weather, and a sea rising in mountains around 
and over the ship's side, hurled her rapidly on iter 
passage homewards, when suddenly a wreck was dis- 
covered to the westward. The order to shorten sail 
was as promptly obeyed as given, and the vessel was 
hauled towards what was discovered to be a China 
junk without masts or rudder, having many persons 
on deck vehemently imploring assistance. The ex- 
hibition of their joy, as they beheld our approach, 
was of the most wild and extravagant nature ; but 
it was doomed to be transient, the violence of the 
elements driving the ship swiftly past the wreck. It 
became necessary to put her on . the other tack, a 



348 THE OCEAN. 

manoeuvre wHcli they construed into abandonment, 
and the air rang with the most agonizing shrieks 
of misery : hope appeared to have been rekindled 
at the eleventh hour, but to render despair more 
desperate, and death more frightful. 

" The excitement on board was intense. A boat 
was immediately lowered, in which the hawser was 
placed, with a small line attached to it, as a mes- 
senger, and was thrown to the wreck for the pur- 
pose of towing her to the ship ; but this intention 
was frustrated by the breaking of the windlass to 
which it was fastened. The anxiety of these un- 
fortunate people to quit their perilous position was 
so great, that it became dangerous to approach 
them : one man, in a paroxysm of despair, jumped 
overboard after the hawser, as the windlass broke, in 
the vain hope of reaching the boat; he was an 
expert swimmer, but no human power could prevail 
against that sea; the furious Ocean mocked his 
efforts ; he rose and sunk upon the swelling billows 
until nature was exhausted : he was lost in sight 
of his companions in misfortune and of the persons 
sent to their aid, without any being able to afford 
him relief. 

"Fears were entertained for the boat and her 
crew, as seen from the ship contending with the 
violence of the element in which she floated, and 
a moment of doubt passed the mind as to the ex- 
pediency of permitting another attempt. It was 
only for a moment : the piercing cries borne upon 
the hollow blast, fell upon the sense with such ter- 
rific horror, that indecision seemed a crime; direc- 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 349 

tions were then issued to keep the boat away, and 
a rope with a bowline-knot at one end, was thrown 
to the junk, into which signs were made for each 
man to place himself, and then plunge into the 
water, whence he was dragged into the boat, and 
eventually, in like manner, to the ship.. Thus were 
eighteen persons rescued from the very grasp of 
death at a moment when every ray of hope ap- 
peared to be utterly extinguished. Their gratitude 
was boundless : they almost worshipped the officers, 
the crew, and the vessel; prostrated themselves, 
kissed the feet of the former, and the very planks 
of the latter. ^ ^ ^ ^ 

" After being on board five days, we made Pulo 
Aor, where we took in water, and so desirous were 
those simple-hearted people of testifying their gra- 
titude, that they would not permit the men to carry 
it, but filled the casks themselves ; and at parting, 
knelt down and kissed each man's feet with the fer- 
vour of devotion. Here we separated from seven- 
teen men who had been nine days at sea upon a 
miserable wreck, water-logged, without water to 
drink, and scarcely food to eat. One of them, an 
old man, died on the preceding evening from the 
effects of fatigue and exhaustion; the others, I doubt 
not, have long ere this time reached their homes, 
and taught their friends and children to bless the 
Englishmen and the English ship, which, under 
Providence, snatched them from a watery grave, 
and returned them to their affections."* 

The principal object of commercial enterprise with 

* Unit. Serv. Journ. 1837, iii. 512. 
2G 



350 THE OCEAN. 

the Chinese, in their annual visits to the Oriental 
Isles, and, by consequence, that which forms the 
chief lading of the returning junks, is the edible 
birds'-nest ; the production of a species of Swallow 
{Hirundo esculenta); of which, as it seems to be 
an oceanic production, I shall give a short account. 
For many ages the nests have been in use in China, 
and it is a remarkable instance of the fictitious value 
often attached by fashion to things of little moment 
in themselves, but procured from a distance with 
much expense, difficulty, and danger. From the 
accounts of travellers, which differ much in detail, 
we gather, that certain large caverns in the interior 
of the island, as well as on the coast, are frequented 
by immense numbers of these birds, of which there 
seem to be at least two species, one being, accord- 
ing to many observers, smaller than a wren; the 
other, according to Sir. E. Home, who dissected 
some brought home by Sir Stamford Eaffles, "dou- 
ble the size of our common swallow." M. Poivre, 
who, in 1741, visited the Straits of Sunda, observed 
these birds in a little island called the Little Tocque. 
A party having landed to shoot . green pigeons, this 
gentleman, accompanied by a sailor, walked along 
the beach in search of shells and jointed corals, 
which were very abundant. After having walked 
some distance, he was called by his companion, who 
had discovered a deep cavern. M. Poivre, hastening 
to the spot, found the entrance darkened by an im- 
mense cloud of small birds, pouring out in swarms. 
He entered, and with ease knocked down many of 
the little birds, with which he was at that time un- 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 35 X 

acquainted. As lie proceeded, lie found tlie roof of 
the cave entirely covered with small nests, shaped 
"like holy- water pots." Each of the nests con- 
tained two or three eggs or young, which lay softly 
on feathers, such as clothed the breast of the parents. 
They were found to be glued firmly to the rock, but 
having detached several, and brought them on board, 
they were recognized to be the same with those 
which form so valuable an article of merchandize in 
China. The sailor, profiting by this information, 
preserved his portion, which he afterwards sold well 
at Canton. The intelligent traveller, on the other 
hand, took coloured drawings of his captures, and 
speculated concerniDg the nature of the nest. He 
conjectures, that it is composed of a gluey substance 
often seen floating in those seas, which he considers 
to be fish spawn. 

More recent accounts agree generally with this. 
In a little island on the coast of Java, called the Cap, 
Sir George Staunton found some caverns running 
horizontally into the side of the rock, in which were 
numbers of these birds'-nests. " They seemed to be 
composed of fine filaments, cemented together by a 
transparent viscous matter, not unlike what is left 
by the foam of the sea upon stones alternately 
covered by the tide, or those gelatinous animal sub- 
stances found floating on every coast. The nests 
adhere to each other, and to the sides of the cavern, 
mostly in rows without any break or interruption. 
The birds that build these nests are small grey swal- 
lows, with bellies of a dirty white. They were flying 
about in considerable numbers; but they were so 



352 THE OCEAN. 

small, and their flight so quick, that they escaped 
the shots fired at them. The same nests are said 
also to be found in deep caverns at the foot of the 
highest mountains in the middle of Java, and at a 
distance from the sea. * * * The nests are placed 
in horizontal rows at different depths, from fifty 
to five hundred feet. Their value is chiefly deter- 
mined by the uniform fineness and delicacy of their 
texture ; those that are white and transparent being 
most esteemed, and fetching often in China their 
weight in silver. These nests are a considerable 
object of traffic among the Javanese ; and many are 
employed in it from their infancy. The birds, hav- 
ing spent near two months in preparing their nests, 
lay each two eggs, which are hatched in about fif- 
teen days. When the young birds become fledged, 
it is thought time to seize upon their nests, which 
is done regularly thrice a year, and is effected by 
means of ladders of bamboo and reeds, by which 
the people descend into the cavern: but when it 
is very deep, rope ladders are preferred. This ope- 
ration is attended with much danger, and several 
break their necks in the attempt."* 

Some of the caves on the coast of Java are only 
to be reached by a perpendicular descent of many 
hundred feet, on these frail ladders of cane, while 
the sea rages with fury far beneath the feet. When 
attained, the cavern must be explored by torchlight, 
the adventurous fowler securing a precarious footing 
over the damp and slippery surface of the irregular 
recesses, where a false step would plunge him down 

* Embassy to China, i. 287. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 353 

into the boiling surf, or impale him upon the sharp 
processes of the rocks. The best nests are obtained 
from such gloomy caves as these; for there are 
several qualities, the best being white, or nearly 
transparent, as if composed of threads of isinglass ; 
others, which are inferior, are coarser in texture, 
darker in colour, streaked with blood, or mixed with 
feathers, or defiled with the food and ordure of the 
young. When procured, they are simply dried in 
the shade, and packed in boxes, each containing a 
picul^ equal to about one hundred and thirty- three 
pounds. In the Chinese markets they fetch prices 
varying, according to the quality, from 250?. up to 
above 900Z. sterling ^qv picul ; the latter price being 
at the rate of nearly seven pounds sterling per pound, 
and consequently almost equal to double the weight 
of the article in silver ! The amount shipped from 
the archipelago is estimated by Mr.. Crawfurd at 
1818 piculs^ 242,4001bs., worth to the sellers at 
the islands, 284,290?. In defenceless and remote 
situations, exposed to lawless plunder, the caverns 
are of little value ; but in other more favourable 
localities, the clear profit is very great; for it is 
computed that the whole expense of collecting, dry- 
ing, and packing, does not much exceed one-tenth 
part of the whole amount. 

The nests are used in China, by the luxurious, 
in thickening rich soups ; but though considered by 
them a great delicacy, have been but little esteemed 
by Europeans, who have tasted the preparations at 
Chinese tables. The substance of which they are 
composed is now generally agreed to be a sea- weed 

23 2g2 



3^4 THE OCEAN. 

wMch floats on the Indian waters, a species of 
Gelidium^ which, can be reduced, by boiling or soak- 
ing in water, almost entirely into a clear jelly. It 
is probable, however, that the substance undergoes 
some preparation in the stomach of the bird before 
it is applied, or else that the filaments are cemented 
by a glutinous saliva. 

No inconsiderable part of the cargoes of the 
return junks is made up of a sea- weed called agar- 
agar^ collected upon the coasts of Malacca. Boats 
go out to procure it from the reefs on which it 
grows, when it is well washed in the rivers, dried, 
and packed in baskets. It grows in small bunches, 
with long and narrow fronds resembling shreds, of 
a light-yellow hue. The finest portions are used 
in China to make a clear, tasteless jelly ; while the 
coarser parts are boiled down into a strong and sub- 
stantial glue, used in the manufacture of furniture 
and lacquered ware. A size is also produced from 
it, for stiffening paper and silk. In Canton, this 
substance produces from twenty to thirty -five shil- 
lings per hundredweight. It is, however, light in 
proportion to its bulk. It is probable that this is 
the species described by botanists by the name of 
Gracillaria tenax^ of which 27,000 pounds are said 
to be annually imported into China, and of which 
windows are made. 

Another important article of traffic with the Chi- 
nese, is the animal called by them trepang^ the b^che 
de mer {Holuthuria). There are several species of 
these animals, which are curious creatures. Gene- 
rally, they have some resemblance in form to a 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 355 

cucumber, whence they are sometimes termed Sea- 
cucumbers ; in the water, however, the body is often 




Sea-cucumbers (HolothuHce). 

greatly lengthened, and, on being touched, is sud- 
denly contracted so as completely to alter the form. 
The mouth is at one end of the animal, furnished 
with shelly teeth converging to a centre, as in the 
Star-fishes, and surrounded by numerous tentacles. 
Mr. Crawfurd describes it as "an unseemly-look- 
ing substance, of a dirty -brown colour, hard, rigid, 
scarcely possessing any power of locomotion, nor 
appearance of animation." The usual length is 
eight or nine inches, the diameter about an inch, 
but some are two feet in length, and seven or eight 
inches in girth. They frequent the shallow waters, 
on reefs and in lagoons ; often exposed on the rock, 
but sometimes nearly buried in the coral-sand, their 
feathered tentacles alone appearing and floating 
loosely in the water. The large kinds are often 



3^ THE OCEAN. 

obtained by spearing them upon tbe rocks in shallow 
water ; but the ordinary mode of obtaining them is 
by diving in from three to five fathoms, and collect- 
ing them by hand. A man will bring np thus eight 
or ten at a time. They are prepared for the mar- 
ket by being split down one side, boiled, and pressed 
flat with stones : then, being stretched on bamboo 
slips, they are dried in the sun, and afterwards in 
smoke, and packed away in bags. In this state it 
is put on board the junks, and is in great demand 
in China for the composition of nutritious soups, 
in which that singular people so much delight. The 
quantity of this article of food, annually sent to 
China from Macassar, amounts to 8333 hundred- 
weight ; the price of which varies, according to the 
quality, (for there are upwards of thirty varieties 
distinguished in the market,) from thirty shillings 
sterling to upwards of twenty guineas per handred- 
weight. The extent of the traffic may be inferred 
from the number of vessels employed in it : Captain 
Flinders was informed, when near the north coast 
of ISTew Holland, that a fleet of sixty proas, carrying 
a thousand men, had left Macassar for that coast 
two months before, in search of this sea-slug; and 
Captain King was informed that two hundred proas 
annually leave Macassar for this fishery. They sail 
in January, coasting from island to island, till they 
reach Timor, and thence steer for New Holland, 
when they scatter themselves in small fleets, and 
having fished along the coast, return about the end 
of May, when the westerly monsoon breaks up. 
The periodical change of the direction of the 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 357 

wind in the nortliern part of tlie Indian Ocean, by 
which the north-east trade-wind is exchanged for 
one directly opposite, commonly called the setting in 
of the south-west monsoon, is attended with very 
remarkable effects on the weather. It is the com- 
mencement of the rainy season, which is ushered 
in by storms of thunder, lightning, and rain, of such 
violence, as those acquainted only with a temperate 
climate have no conception of. Mr. Elphinstone thus 
describes the scene on the coast of India : " The ap- 
proach of the monsoon is announced by vast masses 
of clouds that rise from the Indian Ocean, and 
advance towards the north-east, gathering and thick- 
ening as they approach the land. After some threat- 
ening days, the sky assumes a troubled appearance 
in the evenings, and the monsoon in general sets in 
during the night. It is attended by such a thunder- 
storm as can hardly be imagined by those who have 
only seen that phenomenon in a temperate climate. 
It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which 
are succeeded by floods of rain. For some hours 
lightning is seen almost without intermission ; some- 
times it only illumines the sky, and shows the clouds 
near the horizon ; at other times it discovers the dis- 
tant hills, and again leaves all in darkness : when 
in an instant, it reappears in vivid and successive 
flashes, and exhibits the nearest objects in the bright- 
ness of day. During all this time the distant thun- 
der never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some 
nearer peal, which bursts on the ear with such a 
sudden and tremendous crash as can scarcely fail to 
strike the most insensible heart with awe. At length 



358 THE OCEAN. 

the thunder ceases^ and nothing is heard but the 
continued pouring of the rain, and the rushing of 
rising streams. The next day presents a gloomy 
spectacle : the rain still descends in torrents, and 
scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields ; the 
rivers are swollen and discoloured, and sweep down 
along with them the hedges, the huts, and the re- 
mains of the cultivation which was carried on during 
the dry season in their beds."* 

The effect upon the sea is graphically depicted by 
Mr. Forbes: "At Anjengo," observes this author, 
"the monsoon commences with great severity, and 
presents an awful spectacle : the inclement weather 
continues with more or less violence, from May 
to October. During that period the tempestuous 
Ocean rolls from a black horizon, literally of ' dark- 
ness visible,' a series of floating mountains heaving 
■under hoary summits, until they approach the shore ; 
when their stupendous accumulations flow in suc- 
cessive surges, and break upon the beach; every 
ninth wave is observed to be generally more tre- 
mendous than the rest, and threatens to overwhelm 
the settlement. The noise of these billows equals 
that of the loudest cannon, and with the thunder 
and lightning so frequent in the rainy season, is 
truly awful. During the tedious monsoon I passed 
at Anjengo, I often stood upon the trembling sand- 
bank to contemplate the solemn scene, and derive 
a comfort from that sublime and omnipotent decree, 
'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and, 
here shall thy proud waves be stayed !' "f 

* Account of Caubul, p. 126. f Oriental Memoirs. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 359 

An effect, scarcely less sublimely magnificent, is 
produced by the coming in of the periodical spring- 
tide at the mouth of some of the large rivers of 
India, which is called the Bore. The rising flood, 
confined by the narrowing coasts of a deep estuary, 
takes the form of an immense wave, which comes 
majestically rolling along, like an advancing cataract, 
bearing every thing before it. So rapid is its march, 
that its progress from Hooghly Point to Hooghly 
Town, a distance of seventy miles, occupies but four 
hours. At Calcutta the wave is five feet high ; but 
in the channels formed by the numerous islands in 
the Burhampooter, its height is twelve feet ; and so 
terrific is it, that no boat dares to navigate the river 
at the time of spring- tide. As the middle of the 
river, however, is comparatively free from the in- 
fluence, and only one side, usually, is subject to its 
greatest violence, the boats and larger craft hasten, 
on its approach, into the open water of the current ; 
but if unhappily overtaken, they are inevitably over- 
turned or swamped, while even large ships, that 
present their broadsides to its advance, are rolled 
so violently, that their yard-arms are dipped in the 
wave. 

The multitudes of fishes of brilliant hues and fan- 
tastic shapes, that play in the tepid waters of these 
regions of the sun, are incalculable. ]N"umerous 
bands of Parrot-fishes (Scarus) and Eock-wrasses 
(Labrus) sport about the reefs, whose bodies are 
ornamented with crimson, yellow, and silvery tints, 
often arranged in the form of bands or stripes ; Gur- 
nards {Trigla), whose large fins resemble in their 



360 THE OCEAN. 

form and delicate pencillings the wings of a butter- 
fly, take momentary flights above the surface; and 
the petty tribe of Ghcetodons^ several of which are 
noted for the singular habit of shooting flies with 
a drop of water projected from their beak-like 
mouths, fearlessly approach the hand immersed in 
the water. But none of these are more curious than 
the Toad-fishes, or Anglers (Antennarius\ whose 
pectoral and ventral fins have much of the form and 
also the functions of the feet of a quadruped, en- 
abling them to crawl out of the water, and travel 
over the land. The head is armed with horn-like 
projections, terminating in shining filaments, which 
play freely in the water, and attract small fishes 
within the reach of its enormous mouth; a very 
remarkable instance of the superintending care exer- 
cised by the beneficent Creator over the well-being of 
his creatures. The form of the fish is clumsy, and 
its motions slow and heavy, and without this provi- 
sion for the attraction of its prey, it would probably 
fare but poorly. 

It is doubtless a species of Antennarius that is 
thus described by Mr. Earl, as observed on the coast 
of Borneo : " Large tracts of mud had been left 
uncovered by the receding tide, and flocks of gulls 
and other birds were feeding on the worms and small 
fish. Yast numbers of little amphibious creatures 
were running about in the mud, and they appeared 
to be sought after by some of the larger birds. 
They were from two to eight inches long, resem- 
bling a fish in shape, of a light-brown colour, and 
could run and jump by means of two strong pectoral 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 361 

fins. On the approach of an enemy, they bnried 
themselves in the mud with inconceivable rapidity, 
so that their sudden disappearance seemed to be the 
work of magic. One of the Malays was employed 
in catching them, as they are considered to be a 
great delicacy. He used for the purpose a thin 
plank, four feet long, and one foot broad ; on one 
end of which were fixed several sharp- pointed nails, 
the points projecting beyond the end of the plank. 
He placed the plank flat upon the mud, and with the 
right knee resting on it, and kicking the mud 
with the left foot, he shot along the surface with 
great rapidity, the sharp-pointed nails transfixing 
the little creatures before they could succeed in 
burying themselves sufliciently deep to avoid it. 
This is a dangerous sport, and requires great skill 
in the fishermen to prevent accidents; for should 
he lose his plank, death would be almost inevit- 
able, the mud not having sufiicient consistence to 
support him without the aid of this simple contriv- 
ance."* 

Numberless creatures of the inferior classes, some 
of which are of exquisite delicacy and beauty, float 
on the surface of the Indian Ocean; often in such 
immense hosts as to cover the sea for miles around. 
The Yiolet- snail {Janthina fragilis) is one of these, 
whose shell much resembles that of our garden-snail 
in form and size, but is of a pearly-white above, 
and beneath violet. When alive it is covered with 
a slippery membrane. A singular floating appa- 
ratus projects horizontally from the aperture of the 

* Easterij Seas, p. 213. 
2H 



362 THE OCEAN. 

shell, resembling a collection of air-bubbles, but 
composed of a delicate white membrane, inflated, 
and puckered on the surface into the bubble-like 
divisions alluded to; it is oblong, about an inch in 
length. The buoyancy of this float supports the 
animal at the surface, where it lies with the con- 
vexity of the shell downward. Three or four drops 
of a blue liquid are contained in the body, which 
has been supposed to answer the purpose of con- 
cealment in time of danger, by imparting an obscu- 
rity to the water ; but it is hardly sufficient for this 
purpose, as the whole quantity secreted by one 
animal will not discolour half a pint of water. Be- 
neath the float, at certain seasons, the eggs are sus- 
pended by pearly threads ; and as the floats are fre- 
quently found in great numbers with eggs thus 
attached, but separate from the original animals, 
it is thought that they have the power of throwing 
off this appendage and forming a new one; in which 
case it serves the purpose of sustaining the eggs, and 
probably the young, within the reach of the light 
and heat of the sun. 

The Portuguese Man-of-war {Physalis pelagica), 
numerous in the warm parts of the Atlantic, is still 
more abundant in the seas of which I am writing. 
It is a beautiful little creature, though of very 
simple structure, consisting merely of a semi-trans- 
parent membranous bag, round at one end, and 
pointed at the other, along one side of which runs a 
wide membrane, puckered into perpendicular folds, 
and capable of being contracted and dilated ; while 
from the opposite side depends a thick fringe of blue 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 363 

tentacles, among whicli are some of a great length, 
and of a crimson and purple hue. The tentacles 
have the faculty of severely stinging the hand that 
touches them, though ever so slightly; and it is 
probable that this power is in some way connected 
with the sustenance of the animal, as minute fishes 
are frequently found in a benumbed state attached 
to these processes. The little creature, as it floats 
upon the broad billows, bears a very striking resem- 
blance to a little ship, of which the bladder is the 
hull, and the puckered membrane the sail ; and as 
the edge of the sail is a beautiful pink hue, and the 
lower part of the hull deep blue, a fleet of them, 
floating and rolling in a calm upon the long glassy 
swell of the sea, presents a scene of striking novelty 
and elegance. 

Another creature much resembling this in appear- 
ance is found in the same regions in equal numbers. 
It is called by sailors the Sallee-man ( FeZe^fe mutica)\ 
and consists of an internal cartilage, of a semi-pel- 
lucid white hue, enclosed in soft parts, of a purplish 
green. A broad oval base floats on the water, across 
which runs obliquely an arched crest or sail: be- 
neath are placed the brown viscera, covered with 
a thick mat of colourless tubular papillce : the edge 
of the oval base is fringed with slender blue tentacles. 
No part of this animal seems to have the power of 
stinging, so formidable in the preceding. 

It will be remembered, that in the description 
of the Arctic Seas, a little animal (C^zb horealis) was 
mentioned as forming a large portion of the food 
of the whale. Its place is supplied in the Pacific 



364 THE OCEAN. 

and Indian Oceans by two or three species nearly 
allied to it in structure, but furnished with a glassy 
shell. One of these is named Hyalea tridentata; 




Glass Shells. {Hyalea tridentata, and Cleodora pyramidata.) 

its shell is small and somewhat globular, resembling 
a bivalve without a hinge ; the hinder part being 
consolidated and armed with three spines ; the sides 
have a narrow fissure through which a semi-trans- 
parent membrane protrudes. The animal is fur- 
nished with a wing or fin on each side, which it uses 
as oars. A kindred species {Cleodora cuspidata) is 
of extreme delicacy and beauty. The shell is glassy 
and colourless, very fragile, nearly in the form of 
a triangular pyramid, with an aperture at its base, 
from which proceeds a long and slender glassy spine ; 
and a similar spine projects from each side of the 
middle of the shell. The animal is like the preced- 
ing; but the hinder part is globular and pellucid, 
and in the dark vividly luminous, presenting a sin- 
gularly-striking appearance, as it shines through its 
perfectly-transparent lantern. Both of these are 
found floating in great numbers on the surface of 
the sea. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 365 

Among the sea-shells which attain a large size in 
these seas, the Giant Clamp {Tridacne gigas) stands 
pre-eminent. It is found in abundance on the coasts 
of Sumatra, as well as of other islands, attached 
to the rocks by a strong cable. This, which is called 
byssus, is formed of many tough threads, but slightly 
elastic, spun by the animal, or rather, cast in a 
mould thread by thread; a glutinous fluid being 
secreted in a long groove or canal formed by the 
foot, which in the air rapidly acquires solidity. 
When complete, the united threads form, as ob- 
served above, a cable, projecting through an open- 
ing in the back of the shell, and adhering by the 
other extremity to the rock, so firmly as to resist 
the agitation of the sea, and so tough as to be severed 
only by an axe. Marsden mentions one which was 
more than three feet three inches long and two 
feet one inch wide : and specimens have been seen 
which had attained the enormous length of four 
feet. They are sometimes taken, when not adhering, 
by thrusting a long bamboo between the open 
valves,. which immediately close firmly, and they are 
dragged out. The substance of the shell is perfectly 
white, several inches thick; and is worked by the 
natives into arm-rings, and by European artists is 
made to receive a polish equal to the finest statuary 
marble. ^ 

Pearls, whose exquisite beauty have made them 
celebrated from the earliest ages, are well known to 
be marine productions; and as the shores of the 
Indian Ocean yield the finest specimens, I may here 
say a word of the fishery for them. Many bivalve 

2u2 



366 THE OCEAN. 

shells produce pearls of greater or less perfection; 
but what is known as the Pearl Oyster is the Avicula 
margaritifera of conchologists. The interior surface 
of the shell is covered with very thin plates, or 
lamellce^ which are furrowed with microscopically 
minute and close parallel grooves, and in this struc- 
ture lies the property of reflecting opaline tints ; 
a property which has been communicated to other 
substances by mechanically impressing the surface 
with similar grooves. In some diseased states of 
the animal, or when the shell has received a trifling 
injury, or some foreign body— a grain of sand, for 
example — has found its way within the mantle, the 
pearly secretion is poured out in great abundance 
around the part, and, layer being imposed upon 
layer, produces a pearl, either attached to the inner 
surface of the shell, or loose and held merely in the 
folds of the mantle. 

The most productive fishery is in the Persian 
Gulf, and the finest pearls are found there : above 
90,000^. sterling are sometimes realized from this 
source in the course of two months. Those with 
which we are most acquainted, are carried on on 
the coasts of -Coromandel and of Ceylon ; the former 
being in the hands of the East India Company, the 
latter in those of the British Government. The 
Ceylon fishery has been well described by Captain 
Percival, the Count de Noe, and lately by Mr. Ben- 
nett. As the banks would soon be exhausted if 
fished every year, portions only are selected in turn, 
while the rest remains untouched to be recruited. 
In the month of November, the Government ap- 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. SQ1 

points an inspection of the state of the banks, and 
those selected as fit for fishing are advertised ac- 
cordingly, the fishery for the ensuing season being 
offered for sale. In January, the boats begin to 
assemble, and the adventurers from all parts of 
India congregate on a narrow spot of barren sand 
which is deserted for the greatest portion of the 
year, but now presents the life and gaiety of a fair. 
"There is, perhaps, no spectacle," says Captain 
Percival, "which the Island of Ceylon affords, more 
striking to an European than the bay of Condatchy 
during the season of the pearl-fishery. This desert 
and barren spot is at that time converted into a 
scene which exceeds in novelty and variety almost 
any thing I ever witnessed; several thousands of 
people of different colours, countries, castes, and 
occupations, continually passing and repassing in a 
busy crowd; the vast numbers of small tents and 
huts erected on the shore, with the bazaar or mar- 
ket-place before each; the multitude of boats re- 
turning in the afternoon from the pearl banks, some 
of them laden with riches; the anxious expecting 
countenances of the boat-owners, while the boats 
are approaching the shore, and the eagerness and 
avidity with which they run to them when arrived, 
in hopes of a rich cargo ; the vast numbers of jewel- 
lers, brokers, merchants, of all colours, and all de- 
scriptions, both natives and foreigners, who are 
occupied in some way or other with the pearls, some 
separating and assorting them, others weighing and 
ascertaining their number and value, while others 
are hawking them about, or drilling and boring them 
for future use; — all these circumstances tend to im- 



368 THE OCEAN. 

press the mind with the value and importance of that 
object which can of itself create this scene."* 

The actual fishery begins in February and con- 
tinues during six weeks, or at most two months. 
The boats, being prepared, each carrying twelve or 
fourteen hands and ten divers, leave the shore at 
the signal- gun of the government officer, and arrive 
at the bank before daylight. At sunrise diving com- 
mences, and the divers, divided into two parties, 
descend alternately, the one set breathing while the 
other is below. To expedite his descent, each man 
has a conical piece of granite, through a hole in 
which a rope is passed; he grasps the rope with 
the toes of his right foot, which he uses with nearly 
the same pliancy as the fingers of his hands, and 
taking in his left a net like an angler's landing-net, 
seizes another rope in his right hand, and closes his 
nostrils with his left thumb and finger. The weight 
of the stone causes him to descend rapidly, and he 
loses no time, but hastily fills his net with the oys- 
ters he finds around. When he can retain his breath 
no longer, he jerks the second rope, and is instantly 
hauled to the surface by his fellows, leaving the 
stone to be pulled up afterwards. Generally, from 
a minute and a half to two minutes, is as long as 
a diver can remain under water; but Captain Per- 
cival records a case in which a man " absolutely re- 
mained under water full six minutes." The effects 
of so long a submersion as even ordinarily takes 
place, are severe, and manifest themselves by gush- 
ings of water from the ears, mouth, and nose, and 
sometimes by discharges of blood. Yet they are 

^Percival's Ceylou, p. o9. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 369 

ready to take their turn again, frequently making 
forty or fifty plunges a day, and bringing up at each 
turn about a hundred oysters. 

The greatest danger to these adventurous men 
arises from the sharks, to whose rapacity allusion 
has before been made. But against them the poor 
people believe that they possess an inviolable de- 
fence in the charms sold to them by pretended con- 
jurors, whose impudence and address secure their 
hold on their deluded votaries, even in spite of the 
frequent evidence of their fallibility. It is probable, 
the constant bustle and noise, and the frequent 
splashings of the divers, deter the sharks in a great 
measure from approaching the scene. 

" As soon as the oysters are landed, they are placed 
in pits on the shore, and left to undergo decomposi- 
tion; in which state they diffuse an intolerable odour^ 
but to which habit speedily reconciles the people. 
When the flesh is decayed under that burning sun, 
the shells are opened with ease, and minutely ex- 
amined for pearls : some, however, elude the utmost 
vigilance, to obtain which, numbers of people continue 
to search the sands for months after the merchants 
have departed, and they are now and then rewarded 
by a pearl of value. In 1797, a common fellow, of 
the lowest class, thus got by accident the most 
valuable pearl seen that season, and sold it for a 
large sum." 

In the Straits of Sunda and the adjacent seas, 
there are found several floating sea-weeds, which 
have a general resemblance to the Gulf- weed of the 
Atlantic, but possess a much more striking- similarity 

24 



370 THE OCEAN. 

to terrestrial plants. Two species in particular, 
named from this resemblance Sargassum aquifolium 
and S. ilicifolium^ so closely imitate our common 
holly in their branches, berries, and twisted spinous 
leaves, as to induce a belief, at the first glance, that 
they are no other than sprigs of that familiar plant. 
Another species, found in the same locality, is called 
S. Taxifolium^ from its likeness to the yew. The 
former are highly interesting on another account: 
they afford a remarkable illustration of the fact, 
that the seed -receptacles of some sea-plants are 
metamorphosed after the discharge of their seeds into 
leaves and. air-vessels. Few would suspect that the 
round air-cells, that look like green berries, or the 
curled and thorny leaves, were alike the slender pro- 
cesses containing the seed, only in another stage of 
development; yet specimens are often found in 
which the process is actually going on, both the one 
and the other being but partially transformed. The 
pores with which the surface of the leaves are stud- 
ded, are but the orifices through which the seeds 
escaped. 

As we approach the Cape of Good Hope, the sea- 
birds peculiar to high latitudes again appear, and 
the sea and air are enlivened by myriads of gulls, 
terns, petrels, frigate-birds, and albatrosses. But 
among them we have yet to notice one pre-eminent 
among them, a master-fisher, which, for its powers 
of consuming the finny prey, is perhaps unrivalled. 
It is the Pelican (Pelicanus onocrotalus\ which 
abounds all around the shores of the Indian Ocean, 
ranfrinsr to the distance of several hundred miles 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 3Y1 

from the coasts. This bird has great powers of 
flight, the extended wings covering a space of twelve 
feet. The throat is dilated into a capacious bag, 
which can be wrinkled up when not in use, but 
when the animal is fishing forms a convenient pouch, 
in which the prey is stored as it is caught, until it 
is filled, when the booty is borne to shore, to feed 
the callow young, or to be eaten at leisure. The 
pouch of a full-grown Pelican, when distended, will 
contain ten quarts of water. They fly to a long 
distance, and at a lofty elevation, and remain un- 
tired on the wing for a protracted period. A flock 
of Pelicans beating for prey is a splendid spectacle. 
Sometimes the whole troop soars upwards to an im- 
mense height, and then suddenly swoops down with 
arrowy velocity, splashing the sea in every direc- 
tion ; presently they emerge, and again soar on high, 
till again they simultaneously dash down upon the 
shoals ; and thus the flock perform their evolutions 
in concert, ranging over a wide bay, or a given space 
of water, with perfect order and regularity, and with 
astonishing rapidity. At other times they fly al- 
most at the very surface, beating the water with 
their wings, till the whole sea is one undistinguish- 
able mass of foam. 

In the beautiful poem of Montgomery, "The Peli- 
can Island," which I have before quoted, the manners 
of these interesting birds are ably described : — 

" Eager for food, their searching eyes they fix'd 
On ocean's unroll'd volume, from a height 
That brought immensity within their scope ; 
Yet with such power of vision look'd they down, 



372 THE OCEAN. 

As though they watch'd the shell-fish slowly gliding 

O'er sunken rocks, or climbing trees of coral. 

On indefatigable wing upheld, 

Breath, pulse, existence, seem'd suspended in them : 

They were as pictures painted on the sky ; 

Till, suddenly, aslant, away they shot. 

Like meteors changed from stars to gleams of lightning. 

And struck upon the deep; where, in wild play, 

Their quarry floundered, unsuspecting harm ; 

With terrible voracity, they plunged 

Their heads among th' affrighted shoals, and beat 

A tempest on the surges, with their wings. 

Till flashing clouds of foam and spray conceal'd them. 

Nimbly they seized and secreted their prey. 

Alive and wriggling in the elastic net. 

Which Nature hung beneath their grasping beaka ; 

Till swoll'n with captures, the unwieldy burthen 

Clogg'd their slow flight, as heavily to land 

These mighty hunters of the deep return'd.' 

There on the cragged cliffs they perch'd at ease, ' ' 

Gorging their hapless victims one by one ; 

Then, full and weary, side by side they slept. 

Till evening roused them to the chase again." 



I have reserved till the last of these gleanings from 
the Ocean, one of the most curious of its phenomena, 
and one that, while it vividly strikes the fancy of the 
voyager when he beholds it for the first time, fails 
not to maintain its power to interest after years of 
observation have made it familiar. I have reserved it 
until the last, because it is peculiar to no sea, but 
common to all, being observable in the frozen ocean 
of either pole, and under the burning line ; in the 
Atlantic and in the Pacific. Still there seem to be 
greater intensity and brilliance in the display of the 
phenomenon in the tropical seas than in colder 
climates. No sooner has night descended over the 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 3*73 

Ocean, than the whole surface is seen to be, as it were, 
composed of light, assuming, however, various forms 
and aspects. The most usual appearances, as far as 
they have fallen under my own observation in the 
Atlantic, are as follows: On looking over the stern, 
when the ship has steerage- way, her track is visible 
by a line or belt of light, not a bright glare, but a 
soft, subdued yellowish light, which immediately 
under the eye resembles milk, or looks as though the 
keel stirred up a sediment of chalk which diffuses 
itself in opaque clouds through the neighbouring 
water, only that it is light and not whiteness. 
Scattered about this cloudiness, and particularly 
where the water whirls and eddies with the motion 
of the rudder, are seen . innumerable sparks of light 
distinctly traced above the mass by their brilliancy, 
some of which vanish and others appear, while others 
seem to remain visible for some time. Generally 
speaking, both these phenomena are excited by the 
action of the vessel through the waves, though a few 
sparks may be observed on the surface of the waves 
around. But now and then, when a short sea is run- 
ning without breaking waves, there are seen broad 
flashes of light from the surface of a wave, coming 
and going like sudden fitful flashes of lightning. 
These may be traced as far as the sight can reach, 
and in their intermittent gleams are very beautiful : 
they have no connection with the motion of the ship. 
In a voyage to the ^Gulf of Mexico, I saw the water 
in those seas more splendidly luminous than I had 
ever observed before. It was indeed a magnificent 
sight, to stand in the fore part of the vessel and 

2 I' 



374 THE OCEAN. 

watch, her breasting the waves. The mass of water 
rolled from her bows as white as milk, studded with 
those innumerable sparkles of blue light. The 
nebulosity instantly separated into small masses, 
curdled like the clouds of marble, leaving the water 
between of its own clear blackness ; the clouds soon 
subsided, but the sparks remained. Sometimes one 
of these points, of greater size and brilliancy than 
the rest, would suddenly burst into a small cloud of 
superior whiteness to the mass, and to be then lost 
in it. The curdling of the • milky appearance into 
clouds and masses, and its quick subsidencCj were 
what I had never observed elsewhere. 

Many very interesting observations have been made 
on these kiminous appearances, and there seems no 
doubt that to a very large extent they are produced 
by living animals; but as many species, varying 
greatly from each other, and belonging even to differ- 
ent classes of the animal kingdom, have been recog- 
nized as contributing to the luminousness, we need 
the less wonder that there should be variations in its, 
aspects. Dr. Baird, in some quotations from a jour- 
nal kept during a voyage to India, furnishes some 
interesting notes of the origin of the light. The 
writer speaks of "the broad bright flash, vivid enough 
to illuminate the sea for some distance round, while 
the most splendid globes of fire were seen wheeling 
and careering in the midst of it, and by their bril- 
liancy outshining the general light." On drawing a 
bucket-full of water the narrator " allowed it to re- 
main quiet for some time, when, upon looking into it 
in a dark place, the animals could be distinctly seen 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 3*75 

emitting a bright speck of light. Sometimes this 
was like a sudden flash, at others appearing like an 
oblong or round luminous point, which continued 
bright for a short time, like a lamp lit beneath the 
water, and moving through it, still possessing its defi- 
nite shape, and then suddenly disappearing. When 
the bucket was sharply struck on the outside, there 
would appear at once a great number of these lumi- 
nous bodies, which retained their brilliant appearance 
for a few seconds, and then all was dark again. 
They evidently appeared to have it under their own 
will, giving out their light frequently at various 
depths in the water, without any agitation being 
given to the bucket. At times might be seen mi- 
nute but pretty bright specks of light, darting across 
a piece of water, and then vanishing ; the motion of 
the light being exactly that of the Cyclops through 
the water. Upon removing a tumbler-full from the 
bucket, and taking it to the light, a number of Cy- 
clops were accordingly found swimming and darting 
about in it."^ Dr. Baird concludes from these facts 
that the bright globes were large Sea-blubbers 
{Medusa\ and that the sparks were minute Entom-o- 
straca^ somewhat similar in form to those figured 
in the former part of this volume. 

In some highly interesting observations made 
during a series of years by M. Ehrenberg, chiefly in 
the Eed Sea, we find many minute animals mentioned 
as luminous; but it is remarkable that after many 
trials he could not detect the slightest light from any 
species of the Entomostraca, The water was found 

* Zoologist, 1843, p. 55. 



3T6 THE OCEAN. 

to be very fall of small slimy particles without any 
definite form, wliich gave out light when the water 
was stirred. These were probably Medusoe^ torn but 
yet living, as in some cases fragments of these ani- 
mals are very tenacious of life. Several minute Me- 
dusce> of various species gave out light, which seemed 
to be more vivid on any extraordinary excitement of 
the animals. A drop of sulphuric acid being put 
into a glass of water, several bright flashes of light 
were seen. One of the little animals was taken up in 
a drop of water on the point of a pen ; on a drop of 
acid being added, it gave out a momentary spark and 
instantly died. Several new species of luminous 
animals were discovered by thus mingling acid with 
quantities of sea- water. The light of different spe- 
cies is found to vary in character ; some of the sparks 
being yellow and dull, others clearer and whiter, and 
more lasting. The creature which produces the 
brightest light of all is a kind of sea- worm {Nereis 
cirrigera) ; it lives in groups or large masses, among 
the branches of sea- weed ; and when portions of this 
are thrown on shore by the waves, the animals sur- 
vive and continue to shine very brilliantly for several 
days. In our own seas, a great deal of the light is 
owing to the presence of an exceedingly minute 
animal (Noctiluca miUaris), which does not exceed 
ToV^ part of an inch in diameter. It consists of a 
transparent globe, with a kind of tail proceeding 
from one part of the circumference. In the interior 
may be seen an oval nucleus, not in the centre, from 
which proceed numerous branching vessels. The 
luminous property appears to reside in these vessels. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. S11 

which, while the animal is alive, are seen to dilate 
and contract with a very rapid pulsation. The little 
globe is propelled in any direction by a jerking mo- 




NocTiLUCA MiLiARis, greatly magnified. 

tion of the tail or stem ; and as it is a restless crea- 
ture, it is not a very easy matter to obtain a good 
sight of it for observation. 

Several species of fishes are undoubtedly lumi- 
nous: the Sun-fish {Cephalus mola), when seen at a 
considerable distance below the surface in a dark 
night, is said to glow like a cannon-ball heated to 
whiteness. Ehrenberg found that the whole skeleton 
of an Egyptian fish {Heterotis Nilotica) emitted such 
a vivid light as he never saw equalled by any other 
fish, alive or dead. And Mr. F. D. Bennett discovered 
a new species of Shark, which he named Squalus 
fulgens^ from the whole surface of whose body pro- 
ceeded a greenish light, which rendered the animal 
the most ghastly object imaginable. But there can 
be no doubt that the main source of oceanic efful- 

2i2 



3^8 * ^HE Oct: AN. 

gence is to be found in the countless millions of 
minute animals which throng the sea, but which are 
invisible without the aid of high microscopic powers. 
And, truly, when from a lofty station on board a ship 
we survey a space of many square miles, and see 
every portion of its surface gleaming and flashing in 
living light; or mark the pathway of the vessel 
ploughing up from fathoms deep her radiant furrow, 
so filled with luminous points that, like the milky 
way in the heavens, all individuality is lost in the 
general blaze, and reflect that wherever on the broad 
sea that furrow happened to be traced, the result 
would be the same ; one can scarcely conceive a more 
magnificent idea of the grandeur, the unimaginable 
immensity of the Creation of God. 



" O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom 
hast thou made them all. The earth is full of thy 
riches : so is this great and wide sea, wherein are 
things creeping innumerable, both small and great 
beasts. There go the ships : there is that leviathan, 
whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait 
all upon thee ; that thou mayest give them their meat 
in due season. That thou givest them, they gather; 
thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good." 



THE END. 



MAR 1959 



oounc Twj:>53 



